


Protection

by Bette_H7



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2018-12-30 10:18:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12106563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bette_H7/pseuds/Bette_H7
Summary: Nicole Haught is a bodyguard, hired to protect A list actress Wynonna Earp from a stalker. Waverly is Wynonna's Personal Assistant. When she meets her sister's new staff member, sparks fly.From a prompt by Fuffy2tips.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fuffy2tips](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuffy2tips/gifts).



“I’ve got a great assignment for you,” Reggie said, pushing a file across the desk toward her.

Nicole picked up the folder and thumbed through it.

“When are you going to join the twenty-first century and start using electronic files?”

Reggie pointed at her for emphasis. “When I’m good and goddamn ready. In the meantime, there’s a photo in the front for you. That’s your new boss.”

Nicole flipped to the front of the folder and studied the photograph. It was in black and white, and a beautiful woman was gazing at the camera.

“Who is she? What does she do?” Nicole asked, figuring she was probably a model or some executive’s trophy wife.

Reggie threw his head back and looked at the ceiling. “What does she _do_? That’s Wynonna Earp. You really don’t know who she is?”

“If I did I wouldn’t be asking now, would I?”

“You need to get out more. That’s a headshot. She’s an actress, A list.”

“I’m very impressed,” Nicole deadpanned. “Why does she need private security?”

“Some psycho nearly stabbed her last week, she’s got herself a genuine bona-fide stalker.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows. With all the stories she heard, sometimes it was difficult for her to understand why anyone would want to be in the public eye.

“Creepy. They didn’t catch him?”

“Why do you assume it’s a guy?

“It’s not?” Nicole asked, and nodded when Reggie remained silent.

“Nope, they didn’t catch him. She’d been getting some disturbing letters for a while. They think it might be the same guy,” Reggie said.

“So, is this going to be around the clock? Are you putting a team together?”

“It’ll just be you to begin with. She’s not so into the whole idea, I heard she’s reluctant to bring in help. It’s her staff that are pushing this. But I figure we can send you in, work out how serious the threat is and figure out a plan. You can recommend hiring more staff if you think she needs it.”

“I’d say it’s pretty serious if the dude tried to stab her, but okay. When do I start?”

“As soon as possible. She wants you to come around for a meeting. Her address is on the first page.”

Nicole read it and whistled. “Well, you _did_ say A list.”

 

Nicole pushed the door of her car shut and surveyed the sprawling mansion, looking around at the lawn. The house was hidden from the street by thick hedges, a high fence and a gate that she’d been buzzed in to get past. All in all, it was a pretty good set up.

She knocked on the door and was let in by a maid, who led her into the living room.

“This is Ms Earp’s manager, Maxine, and this is Ms Wynonna Earp.”

Nicole shook hands with each of them, Wynonna looking back at her with a bored expression. Though it was not far past noon, she was clutching a glass of liquor. When she noticed Nicole eyeing it, Wynonna held it out toward her.

“Drink?” Wynonna asked.

“No thanks, I’m good,” Nicole replied.

“So, you come highly recommended,” Maxine said. “We’re glad to have you on board.”

“I’m glad to be here.”

“How does this all work?” Wynonna asked.

“Well, I’m going to be checking out the security system you have, and I’ll want to look at your correspondence. I’ll need to see your schedule and we’ll discuss general safety planning. Did Reggie mention I might need to stay here for a while?”

Nicole’s looked levelly at Wynonna, who’d just been making an exasperated face and was now looking off to the side.

“Is there a problem Miss Earp?”

“Oh Jesus, just call me Wynonna. And it’s nothing, I just wish the cops would do their job so we didn’t have to do all this. There’s a guest house out the back, go nuts.”

Wynonna left the room and Maxine gestured for Nicole to sit down.

“As you can see, she’s a little stressed about this whole situation.”

Nicole ignored the comment and started asking questions. She’d dealt with much tougher clients than Wynonna Earp, and she had a job to do.

 

Nicole drove down the tree lined road, and turned the corner. There was a coffee shop across the street and she pulled over, thinking it would be nice to get a cup before she went back to the office. There was a lot to do. Firstly, she wanted to call the police department and gather as much information as she could before she went back to the Earp house. This was a big case to be handling on her own and she needed all the help she could get.

When she was inside, she stood behind a woman who was placing a complicated order. Nicole watched her, gradually becoming aware of her shape, of her muscled shoulders and soft curves. She had the most beautiful skin. When she turned around, Nicole found herself smiling back at the warm, open grin she was met with.

Living here meant that she encountered a lot of beautiful women, but not all of them caught her eye like this one did. There was something special about the way she looked. Strong jawline, hazel eyes, gorgeous long hair. There was all of that, but it was the smile that really got to her.

Nicole ordered her coffee and while she waited, she stood next to the stranger. Nicole had the delicious sense that the heightened awareness went both ways; that they were edging closer to one another.

After a while, looking out of the corner of her eye wasn’t enough and Nicole turned toward her.

“Excuse me, do you happen to have the time?” Nicole asked.

The stranger turned to Nicole too and she smiled again, so Nicole gave her a sly smile back. Her stomach fluttered at the way the woman looked at her. She had a surprised but not displeased look on her face in response to Nicole’s attention. Nicole had taken a chance with the cheesy line, but it didn’t seem like she minded at all.

The woman pulled her phone from the pocket of her high-waisted jeans. “It’s two-thirty.”

“Thanks. Do you live around here?” Nicole asked.

“Yep, just around the corner. You?”

“No, but I might be staying here for a while. I’m Nicole.”

Nicole stuck out her hand and the woman shook it, their eyes locking. Neither of them released the other’s hand, and Nicole could feel warm soft skin against her palm.

“I’m…”

“Waverly? Waverly?” the clerk called out.

“That’s me,” Waverly said, moving forward to pick up the tray.

Nicole rushed to open the door, holding it for her while Waverly slipped past, inches away from brushing against Nicole.

“See you around Waverly,” Nicole said, running one last appreciative glance over her face.

Waverly ducked her head and looked up at her, then walked on. Nicole watched her go, kicking herself for not having asked for her number.

 

For her first official day on the job, Nicole dressed in the simple black suit that Reggie liked his staff to wear. She wore a crisply ironed white button-up underneath. She’d packed a couple of suitcases to take to the guest house to make herself feel more at home, even though she planned on coming back to her apartment as much as possible.

Nicole sat down with Maxine at the dining table, with a list of her requests.

“Have you gathered all of her fan mail?” Nicole asked.

“Wynonna’s assistant handles the mail. I’ll go and get her.”

Nicole looked around the room while she waited, picking up ornaments and putting them down. She jumped when she realized Maxine had come back into the room.

“Nicole, this is Wynonna’s assistant, Waverly.”

Nicole fought to keep the surprise from registering on her face. Though she’d been hoping to run into Waverly again, this was a crazy co-incidence. It was obvious that Waverly was as shocked as she was; standing there with a furrowed brow and clutching some binders to her chest.

“Nice to meet you,” Nicole said, recovering. They were staring at one another, but thankfully Maxine didn’t seem to have noticed.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Maxine said.

“Hey,” Waverly said shyly.

“Hello,” Nicole said in a businesslike tone, moving toward the dining table.

They each sat down, Nicole having made the snap decision to not acknowledge their previous meeting. They’d only spoken for a second at the coffee shop, so it wasn’t like it was a big deal. It would be wildly inappropriate to continue flirting with Waverly, so she figured it was for the best to pretend it had never happened.

There was an awkward silence as they settled in across from one another. Waverly now wasn’t meeting her eye.

“How far back have you been keeping letters?” Nicole asked.

“I-I have everything from the last couple of months here,” Waverly said, laying the binders next to one another. “I’ve divided them up by category and they’re organized by the date they were received.”

“Great, what are the categories?”

Waverly pointed to the folders one by one. “This one is just run-of-the-mill fan letters, nothing of concern. This one is for letters veering into crackpot territory, and people asking for money or seeming like they think they have a special relationship with Wynonna. And these ones are the real red flag letters, I’ve gathered ones where people make threats of any kind.”

Nicole picked up the last folder and opened it, seeing pieces of paper arranged in plastic slips.

“There are more of these than I would have thought.”

“I know, it’s kind of scary. The police have the originals of these. As you can see, they’re photocopies. And I’ve kept all the envelopes in case there’s anything on the post marks that might be useful.”

“Thanks, this is going to be super helpful.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, they were already like this. I keep them separate and I only show Wynonna the good folder.”

The smile Nicole had been suppressing finally broke free. “You’re very organized.”

“Is that all you need?”

Nicole’s heart sank at the way Waverly’s expression remained serious, and she pushed the feeling away. She reminded herself that she was at work, and that she’d done the right thing by pretending to not remember Waverly. Nicole cleared her throat.

“No, thanks. That’s all I needed.”

“Okay. Wynonna asked me to show you to the guest house.”

Nicole followed Waverly outside, guiltily checking out the bare legs under her skirt and watching her move as she walked. When they reached the guest house and Waverly turned toward her, Nicole snapped her gaze back to Waverly’s face.

“I think you can probably tell Wynonna wants to be left alone as much as possible. She’s independent, she likes handling things on her own. I don’t mean to cause any offence, but…”

“I get it. She wouldn’t be the first person to struggle with needing a service like ours. But we’re trained to be unobtrusive. As much as possible, I’ll stay out of her way.”

“Cool. Make yourself at home. I live in the main house, so come up if you need anything,” Waverly said.

“That wasn’t in the file I was given. Do all of Wynonna’s staff live here?” Nicole asked, annoyed that Reggie had left out such a vital piece of information.

“No, just me. I’m her sister.”

“Oh,” Nicole said. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

“No problem,” Waverly said brightly, handing her a key. “Okay…bye.”

“Bye,” Nicole said.

As Waverly walked away Nicole watched her once more. When Waverly glanced back over her shoulder, Nicole waved at her.

Based on her first impression, Waverly was somehow a perfect mixture of sweet and sexy. It was difficult for Nicole to remember the last time she’d felt so instantly attracted to anyone.

She had to keep it under control, and hope that the feeling would pass. Frankly, she didn’t know how else she was going to be able to concentrate with a woman like that around.


	2. Chapter 2

By the end of the first week at the Earp mansion, Nicole had covered a lot of ground. She’d accompanied Wynonna on all her errands, following her and watching for anything suspicious. A band of fans and paparazzi followed Wynonna everywhere she went, which posed some challenges for Nicole. It was okay for trips to the grocery store, but if she were going anywhere more high risk Nicole was going to have to bring on extra staff like she and Reggie had discussed.

There wasn’t any need to watch too closely while Wynonna was inside the mansion, because through her vetting she’d found that the security system was excellent. When Wynonna was inside Nicole spent a lot of time information gathering; tasking people back at the office with helping her to go through all Wynonna’s social media accounts. It didn’t take long to discover that Wynonna drew a lot of trolls. Nicole was having the guys send her any handles that rang alarm bells so that she could compare them to the mail in Waverly’s folder.

At night, she left the guest house to patrol the perimeter of the grounds. Now and then she came across rubberneckers hanging around, and she liked scaring them a little even if there was nothing much she could do about their presence. All they were doing was standing out on the sidewalk, doing weird shit like pulling out blades of grass to keep as souvenirs.

It was a routine job for her, or at least it might be, if not for Waverly Earp.

On her second day, she’d asked Waverly to go over the events that had led to Nicole getting hired. Reggie had given Nicole the police report and she’d spoken to Wynonna, but Nicole was thorough and she liked to find out as much as she could about an incident. You never knew when some little piece of information nobody thought was important would turn out to be a break.

Waverly and Wynonna were jogging around the neighborhood at dusk when the guy jumped out of nowhere with a knife. Yelling something unintelligible, he lunged for Wynonna, who kicked at him. The two women ran as fast as they could back to the house, and though he followed they easily outran him.

Nicole asked Waverly to describe him again, and she was impressed at all the little details Waverly remembered. Most eyewitnesses were not this good.

“You got the sense this wasn’t random though. That he definitely knew who she was?” Nicole asked.

“Yes. I couldn’t understand most of what he said, but her name was in there. And he went right for her. It was so scary.”

Nicole reached out and laid her hand gently on Waverly’s arm.

“I’m going to do everything I can to protect you from this guy. Okay?” Nicole said softly. “I’ll help the police as much as I can, too. They’ll catch him.”

Waverly smiled at her and Nicole’s heart kicked. Truth be told, she didn’t know how much Waverly and Wynonna even needed her protection. They’d both acted fast that day to fight him off, and it didn’t sound like either of them had frozen which would have been completely understandable. Still, she had an urge that went way beyond the professional to help keep Waverly safe.

It was more than a little difficult to keep her focus on Wynonna when Waverly was around. Not that Nicole was complaining, but the two of them often went out together. It was nice to have Waverly around when she was so warm and sweet where Wynonna was sarcastic and brittle. Though Nicole had no choice but to be here, Waverly made her feel welcome.

Wherever they were, Nicole’s gaze was pulled toward Waverly and whatever she was wearing that day. Nicole did her best to not stare, and she forced her eyes back to the person she was supposed to be helping. She also worked hard to keep her eyes trained on Waverly’s face whenever they were speaking.

Each morning they met to go over Wynonna’s schedule for the day. Nicole walked up to the main house with her heart thudding faster than usual in anticipation. It was always Waverly who opened the door to her.

Today, Waverly was wearing one of those cropped shirts that suited her so well. A glance revealed perfectly toned abs and Nicole swallowed hard, accepting the coffee that Waverly offered to her.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Nicole asked as they walked to the dining room.

Waverly consulted her iPad, scrolling through the calendar.

“Not too much for today. Her yoga teacher’s coming by at ten, but there’s no meetings or anything.”

“Do you think she’ll want to go shopping, or anything that’s not scheduled?”

Waverly shrugged. “I’ll let you know if she changes her mind, but she actually asked me yesterday if I wanted to hang out by the pool this afternoon.”

“Okay. Sounds like a chilled day. If you’re at the pool I’ll have to be out there with you.”

“Sure, I understand,” Waverly said.

Neither of them seemed to be in a rush to move on this morning. They sat sipping their coffee in companionable silence, and Nicole felt like it was okay to ask Waverly a few questions. They usually only ever made small talk with one another when they weren’t talking about business.

“If you don’t mind me asking, have you been working with your sister for long?”

“ _For_ my sister you mean, it’s okay, you can say it,” Waverly said, laughing.

“That is what I meant,” Nicole said sheepishly. “You guys seem tight but I can imagine things getting a little complicated when you work for a family member.”

“It can be, I guess. It’s been a few years. Wynonna offered to help and send me to college but I like being with her and she likes it too. Our parents aren’t around so we stick together.”

“It’s awesome that you’re so close.”

“Yep, and it’s a super flexible job so I have time for the other stuff I want to do. I study online.”

“You do? What do you study?” Nicole asked, leaning toward her. Nicole wasn’t surprised, not when just a few conversations with Waverly had convinced her that she was a very smart cookie. Waverly had an edge of nerdiness that only added to her appeal. Nicole had always been into smart women.

“History. Now it’s my turn. What made you want to get into this job?”

“I trained as a police officer. I spent a year out in the sticks as a deputy. I had some good contacts and so I decided to move into this for a while, but I’ll probably go back to policing in the future. This is an interesting gig though, I like it a lot.”

“Well, I think that’s very cool but don’t tell Wynonna you’re a cop,” Waverly said, with a grin.

“I wouldn’t dare, I’ve heard plenty of her opinions about L.A.’s finest, believe me.”

They laughed together, and Nicole noticed the way that Waverly’s eyes were darting between Nicole’s eyes and her lips. She wondered if Waverly had any idea what she was doing when she looked at her like that.

Nicole wondered a lot of things she shouldn’t, like whether Waverly was seeing anybody. When it came to Wynonna’s status all she’d had to do was ask, because it was important to know these things for the job. She’d been informed that Wynonna had a movie star boyfriend called Henry, and that he was away shooting something right now. Nicole wished it were as simple to find out about Waverly’s situation.

Throughout her investigation she’d gone through a lot of photos on social media that included Waverly. All the while she’d been keeping an eye out for a boyfriend or girlfriend. So far, she hadn’t seen much of anything either way.

“I’d better let you get to work,” Nicole said, moving to pick up their coffee mugs to take to the kitchen.

“You don’t have to do that,” Waverly said, reaching for the mugs at the same time. Their fingers touched, sending a jolt through Nicole.

“Okay,” she said, pulling her hand away. Waverly didn’t look back at her, and in a second she was gone.

 

Nicole retreated to the guest house, doing work on her laptop. She kept enough food in the kitchenette to prepare meals and she ate a sandwich while she worked. Soon there was a knock on the door, and Waverly was standing in front of her with a towel wrapped around her body.

“Hey, we’re going in,” Waverly said, pointing her thumb back over her shoulder.

“Thanks for letting me know,” Nicole said. “I’ll be with you in a sec.”

Nicole put her gun in her holster, slipped on her sunglasses and went outside, nodding to them. There was another woman she didn’t recognize, who gave her a sarcastic looking wave. Nicole rolled her eyes to herself; it wasn’t like she was doing this for fun.

Nicole walked around the yard, looking in the bushes and checking out the fence. She heard splashing and voices as the women all jumped into the pool.

“Sit down, you’re making me nervous,” Wynonna called out.

There were deck chairs and Nicole figured why not, she might as well. The maid came outside carrying a tray of glasses, and Nicole watched as they swam over to collect their cocktails. She really had chosen the wrong business. What she wouldn’t give to be in the water, drinking in the middle of the day. Nicole pulled at the collar of her shirt. It was warm and she was starting to sweat.

“Would you like a mojito?” Wynonna asked. Nicole could never tell if Wynonna was poking fun at her when she offered her drinks. Surely Wynonna didn’t want a drunk bodyguard on her hands, and yet she kept asking.

“I’ll skip it, but thank you.”

“Suit yourself.”

Wynonna stood in the water resting her drink on the side of the pool. “This is my friend Mercedes, Mercedes this is Nicole Haught. Have you ever heard such a last name?”

“I have _not_ ,” Mercedes replied.

Nicole made some polite small talk with Mercedes, who was also an actor, and then let the conversation fade away. She turned and scanned the yard again, but it was mainly for show. She was confident that this guy wouldn’t be able to scale the fence, though sometimes she worried that he might upgrade his weapon to a gun.

When she turned back Waverly was pulling herself out of the pool.

Nicole was grateful that she was wearing dark sunglasses, because it would take a saint to not stare. Waverly was wearing a bikini, and her body was…something else. Even the glimpses Nicole had caught of Waverly’s stomach and arms had not prepared Nicole for what she was seeing. Everything about her was perfect. From where she was sitting Nicole could see drops of water clinging to her smooth skin.

Waverly raised her arms to wring out her ponytail and Nicole watched, her mouth dry. Waverly’s breasts, which were covered in the floral fabric of her bikini, were a work of art. Nicole suddenly felt even warmer in her suit and she took off her jacket, throwing it over the back of the chair.

Waverly padded over to one of the chairs with her cocktail. There was something so charming to Nicole about how she did it, because it was obvious to Nicole that Waverly had no idea how stunning she was.

“Hey again,” Waverly said. “Thanks for coming out. You must be hot?”

“No, I’m fine,” Nicole replied quickly.

There was a book lying next to the chair and Waverly picked it up, squinting into the sun as she read.

Nicole stood up nervously. If she were to angle her head to stare at Waverly like she wanted to, it would be obvious even with her sunglasses on. A wave of guilt crashed over her for ogling Waverly like that. For someone who prided herself on her work, she was being awfully unprofessional.

Nicole walked another circuit around the yard, trying to cool down her thoughts. She saw that Wynonna and her friend were standing by the pool now, giggling about something.

“Hey Nicole, can you come here please? I need to talk to you,” Wynonna called out.

“Sure thing,” Nicole said, walking over to her purposefully. It was unusual for Wynonna to want to confer with her about anything. Maybe Nicole was finally making some headway with her.

Nicole stood next to the pool, facing Wynonna.

“What can I help you with?”

Before she knew what was happening, Wynonna grabbed her and pulled her into the water with her, the two of them falling into the pool on their sides. Nicole pushed up to the surface, shocked and spluttering. Wynonna was laughing her ass off and Nicole rapidly swam to the edge, pulling herself out. She was aware of Waverly watching them, her mouth open.

“You have got to be kidding me, I’m wearing a gun!” Nicole shouted. Her mind raced. She was going to have to rush back to the office to see Reggie about it. It wasn’t safe now to fire her gun, even if it had only been submerged for a second.

“Sorry. You just look so serious sometimes, I thought you could do with a little fun,” Wynonna said.

“Wynonna, you shouldn’t have done that!” Waverly said.

Nicole glared at Wynonna. “When I tell Reggie what you just did, we might be asking you to find another agency. That was really stupid.”

A flash of remorse crossed Wynonna’s face. “Okay, shit, I’m sorry. I just thought it’d be kind of funny.”

“Well, it’s really wasn’t,” Nicole said. “Can you please go inside so I can go and get this worked out?”

Nicole started backing up toward the guest house.

“Okay. It _was_ kind of funny, though,” Wynonna muttered.

Nicole shook her head, watching her and Mercedes go. Waverly started to follow her sister, then turned back and walked toward Nicole. Nicole glanced down self-consciously at herself. Her clothes were clinging to her skin and the white shirt had become transparent. She hated that Waverly was seeing her so thrown off her game.

“I’m really sorry about her. She can be so impulsive. And I know she doesn’t act like it, but she’s freaked out. It’s not okay she did that, but she’s just trying to blow off some tension,” Waverly said.

“You don’t have to apologize for your sister Waverly, but thank you.”

“It’s just...I would hate it if you had to go because of this. I don’t want anyone else here, and I know Wynonna doesn’t act like it, but I don’t think she’d like you to go either. Please don’t leave,” Waverly said, a panicked note in her voice.

Nicole didn’t react, standing still in front of Waverly. Though she was sure that Waverly only saw her as Wynonna’s bodyguard and nothing more, she would never have expected Waverly to be so emotional about it. With all of Wynonna’s power and money, she could have someone else here tomorrow if she wanted. It was so confusing, and it didn’t help that Waverly was still only wearing her bikini.

“Are you okay?” Waverly said, reaching out to put her hands to Nicole’s shoulders, rubbing her arms to warm her up. “I should have given you my towel,  I can get it…”

Nicole breathed in sharply at Waverly’s touch. Waverly’s gaze slipped down to her chest for just a second, and Nicole knew she must be able to see her bra through her shirt.

Nicole let Waverly trail her hands down her arms, the silence awkwardly stretching out between them as they stared into one another’s eyes. It took all that she had to not put her hand to the side of Waverly’s face, or to pull her close.

Finally, Nicole stepped back.

“It’s okay Waves. I’ll tell Reggie I had an accident or something. I’ll handle it.”

Waverly smiled up at her, relief flooding her face.

“Thank you so much.”

Nicole stepped back, not taking her eyes from Waverly as she put her trembling hand on the doorknob, then she opened the door and walked inside.


	3. Chapter 3

The next couple of weeks passed without incident, and thankfully Nicole noted a slight shift in Wynonna’s demeanor. Wynonna never apologized to Nicole for throwing her in the pool, but she was less sarcastic and more cooperative.

The amount of time Nicole and Waverly spent together in the mornings at the dining table slowly increased. They lingered over their coffee mugs, sharing stories and joking around. Waverly was curious about Nicole’s work and asked her a lot of questions. One day, Waverly said that she hadn’t had breakfast yet and offered to cook for Nicole too.

“You know, you can come and have breakfast with me any time,” Waverly said. “It’s no problem to make a little extra.”

“Thanks, but that’s okay Waverly, you don’t have to feed me. I’m not a guest here,” Nicole said. She usually just had yoghurt and fruit in the guesthouse before she came up to the house for their meetings.

“I insist. It’d be nice to have the company, and it’s annoying just cooking for one. Even when Wynonna finally gets up, all she has is black coffee and grapefruit. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day you know.”

“I know. I guess if we’re meeting for work we might as well. But you have to let me help you prepare, I’m not going to come up here and get served.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

From then on, Waverly planned something different for the two of them to eat every day, accompanied by coffee and freshly squeezed juice.

Nicole worried constantly that she was blurring the boundaries of her role by spending so much time with Waverly. She compensated by asking a lot of questions about the Earp sisters, telling herself that she was gathering information to get to know them better. It never hurt to learn more about the people she was working for. If she enjoyed herself in the process, well, there wasn’t much she could do about that.

“So what kind of movies does your sister actually do anyway?” Nicole asked one morning as she tucked into blueberry pancakes.

Waverly paused with her fork raised over her plate, raising her eyebrows at Nicole. “Are you being cool or do you really not know?”

“Why would I lie about that? I really don’t think I’ve seen anything she’s done.”

“She did the Jane Bond trilogy? Plus, lots of indie movies? Got nominated for an Oscar last year? Ringing any bells now?”

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t really watch movies, not new ones anyway. I like the classics. Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis. Stuff like that.”

“Well that explains it. I thought you weren’t star struck by her because you’re used to meeting famous people for your job, but you really don’t know her, do you?”

“Nope, really don’t.”

“Well, that’s kind of nice for me. I mean, I love my sister and I love her career. Look at the lifestyle I get to live because of her,” Waverly said, gesturing around the room. “But I’m so used to being in her shadow that it’s kinda refreshing to have someone treat us so normally.”

“I’m sorry that you feel like you’re in her shadow sometimes. That must be rough.”

Waverly shrugged. “It’s fine. The family joke is that I’m the smart one, I can live with it.”

“Oh c’mon, I mean, you _are_ smart, but really? She might have the fame but if you lined up next to one another I don’t think people would know who the actress was. You’re so beautiful and everything,” Nicole said, still focusing on her food while she spoke.

When she looked up Waverly was gazing at her, eyes widened. Nicole’s own face was warm and she stared back down again, wondering why she’d thought it was okay to say that. As far as she was concerned Waverly’s beauty was an objective fact, but now that it was out of her mouth it was obvious that to say so was crossing a line.

It was quiet, save for the sounds of knives and forks clinking against plates. Nicole wasn’t sure if she should apologize or let the moment pass. Mercifully, Waverly spoke first and changed the subject.

“Wynonna said she wanted to meet with you this morning.”

“Oh?” Nicole said.

Right at that moment, a bleary-eyed Wynonna staggered into the room.

“Late night?” Nicole asked, figuring she was hungover.

“This is just how she looks in the morning,” Waverly explained, moving to pour Wynonna a cup of coffee.

Wynonna sat down at the table and held up a hand when Nicole tried to speak to her.

“She’ll only talk to you when she’s finished her coffee.”

Nicole and Waverly shared an amused look at the way Wynonna grunted in agreement.

When she was done, Wynonna finally spoke. “Okay. I am ready to get out there and start running. I’m not going to let that dickwad stop me from doing things I enjoy anymore. I want to go today.”

Nicole nodded. “Sure. I’ll follow close behind you, I think on foot is best.”

“Really? You’re not going to try and stop me?”

“Of course not. You’ve got a right to run in your own neighborhood. Just let me know what time you want to go and I’ll be ready.”

 

The three of them met on the grounds in front of the mansion, wearing their workout gear. Nicole had dashed home to get her sneakers and some leggings. Her gun was concealed, strapped across her body under her hoodie.

Nicole stretched, feeling Waverly’s eyes on her. She glanced over at Waverly in time to see Waverly look away from her, her toned shoulders on display.

As usual when they were going anywhere, Nicole discreetly dropped back behind the sisters and followed.

It was so lovely to be outside, and it made her realize how cooped up she’d been feeling. She couldn’t imagine what it had been like for Wynonna lately.

As her feet beat against the ground beneath her Nicole watched Waverly running. She was hypnotized by the shifting of Waverly’s muscles under her skin, and by the graceful way that she moved.

Suddenly they ground to a halt and Nicole drew forward. A young man pushing a stroller had paused while he was walking and called out Wynonna’s name.

Wynonna waved at him. This guy didn’t seem like a threat at all, but even from where Nicole was standing she could see Wynonna’s shoulders drawn up tight.

When the guy walked on, Wynonna stared after him.

“You know what, I think I just want to go home,” Wynonna said.

 

“Can we go over the mail?” Nicole asked Waverly when they got back to the mansion.

“Sure, I’ll go get it.”

As soon as they were alone, Nicole closed the door behind them.

“This isn’t really about the mail. I wanted to ask you, is she okay?” Nicole asked.

“Not as okay as I thought. I mean, I’m shaken up by what happened too, but she just doesn’t talk about it. I’m worried about her.”

“Has she seen anyone since it happened?”

“What, you mean like a shrink?” Waverly asked. “She hates that sort of thing.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt. Is she sleeping?”

“I don’t know?”

“I’m sorry if this isn’t my place, but maybe you should try and talk to her. The longer she avoids going outside and doing things, the worse it’ll get. I’ve seen it happen before.”

“Okay. I will. I’ll talk to her.”

 

When Nicole retired to the guesthouse for the evening, there was a knock at the door.

“Hey Waverly,” she said as she opened it. Waverly had never come to the guest house before, and Nicole’s heart raced at seeing her so unexpectedly. Nicole quickly looked around the room, making sure there weren’t any stray bras laying around.

“Hey. Sorry to interrupt your down time,” Waverly said. “I know you’re pretty much working around the clock here.”

“It’s totally fine. What’s up?”

“I talked to her. You were right, she said she’s barely sleeping at all.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that. It’s a normal reaction, but it can’t be easy.”

“She said that she lies awake listening for noises half the night.”

Nicole noticed for the first time how anxious Waverly seemed. She had a hand pressed to her collarbone, and she was breathing quickly.

“Waverly, are you not sleeping either?”

“Nope,” Waverly said.

“Okay, come here,” Nicole said, beckoning her further inside. She pulled out a chair at the small table in the corner and sat down across from her. “What do you need? Do you want more staff to be here? All you need to do is say the word. Or maybe you’d both want to get out of here for a while. We can help you arrange that, make sure it’s safe and private.”

“There is something we wanted. Wynonna and I were talking and I don’t want to impose but…”

Waverly rubbed her palms on her skirt and Nicole reached out to lightly squeeze her shoulder. Nicole wanted to do so much more. It would be beyond inappropriate, but she wished she could pull Waverly in and hold her and make everything better.

“Just ask, Waves. I’m listening.”

“We were wondering if you could come up and stay in the house? I know you keep saying the security’s good and the police would come to a neighborhood like this in five minutes if the alarm got tripped. And I know you could be up at the house super fast. But I guess it’s more of a psychological thing. You can say no if you want.”

Nicole reached out once more, touching Waverly’s arm reassuringly.

“Of course, I can come up there. I’ll pack my things right now.”

 

When they reached the house, Waverly led her through the living room. Wynonna looked at Nicole sheepishly from her position on the sofa.

“Hey, Wynonna,” Nicole said, careful to stay neutral. Wynonna had a lot of pride, that was obvious, and she must hate asking for help. “Where do you guys want me to sleep?”

“There’s a guest room across from mine, I’ll show you to it,” Waverly offered.

“Cool,” Nicole replied.

“And from now on, if you’re going to be staying here, you can dress like that instead of wearing that suit. It makes you look like a banker. I worry that you’re going to fleece me at any moment.”

“Wynonna!” Waverly said.

Nicole looked down at her jeans and shirt. “That suit is kind of a requirement.”

“The customer’s always right,” Wynonna said.

“Okay. Especially when we’re here I guess there’s no reason why I really have to,” Nicole said. It would be a relief if she were honest. The suit was hot and not always the most practical thing.

“Sure, it really helps you blend in after all. You got yourself a deal,” Wynonna said.

“In the morning, I can show you guys some self-defense moves. It’ll help you feel safer,” Nicole said. At first, she’d thought that it might be the wrong time to bring it up, but if Wynonna was going to tease her about her clothes she didn’t see why she shouldn’t speak freely as well.

“Pffft,” Wynonna said, rolling her eyes.

“Wynonna has done a lot of martial arts training for her movies,” Waverly said.

“I could kick your ass no problem. You should show Waves some stuff though.”

Nicole looked to Waverly, who was nodding enthusiastically. Nicole couldn’t help returning her infectious smile.

“Okay then. Let’s see this room.”

 

Nicole showered and prepared for bed. Yawning, she pulled on a shirt and sweat pants, then bundled up her jeans and shirt into a ball. As she was approaching her room, she heard footsteps on the stairs and paused.

“Hey,” Waverly said.

“Hey,” Nicole replied, somewhat breathlessly. Waverly was wearing a silk robe, her hair was piled on her head, and her face was scrubbed clean of makeup.

“I just wanted to say thanks again for doing this. It’s really nice of you.”

Nicole shrugged. “Hey, I’m just doing my job.”

“We both really appreciate it.”

When Waverly’s eyes trailed down her body, Nicole became aware that her old gray shirt was on the thin side. Feeling exposed, she casually moved the clothes she was holding in front of her chest. She wished she’d brought nicer clothes to wear to bed.

“Well, goodnight,” Nicole said.

“Goodnight,” Waverly said.

When Nicole closed the door, she leaned her forehead against it, banging it softly on the wood. She had to get over this crush, and being so near to Waverly really wasn’t helping.

 

They met for self-defense training on the lawn, standing in front of one another on the lush green grass. Waverly was so cutely eager that it melted her. She’d made an egg white omelet for breakfast, explaining that they both needed their strength.

“Okay, first move is the knee kick. If someone’s standing close in front of you and you don’t have room to kick them properly, the best thing you can do is kick them with your knee.”

“You want me to kick you?” Waverly said doubtfully.

“Just do it lightly. So, you grab onto his neck if you can for leverage, and you kick with the bone of your knee, just drive it right up to the groin. Got that?”

“Got it. So, do I do it now?”

“Stop worrying about hurting me, just do it.”

Suddenly, Waverly’s hands were at the back of her neck, and Nicole felt herself being pulled down. Waverly’s knee stopped just short of her groin.

“Like that?” Waverly said, releasing her.

“Perfect. Go again.”

They did it a couple more times until Waverly seemed confident.

“Cool, next we’re going to do the bear hug defense. I’m going to come up behind you and grab you. Are you okay with that?”

When Waverly nodded, Nicole walked behind Waverly and put her arms around her shoulders.

“What’s your first instinct when someone does this?” Nicole asked. As she expected, Waverly started pulling at her arms to throw her off. Nicole loosened her hold for a moment. “Right, exactly. It’s not the first thing you’d think of, but when I grab you, drop low, wriggle out of my grip that way.”

“Okay, go,” Waverly encouraged her.

Nicole pulled her arms around Waverly, and they struggled against one another. Waverly’s back was close against Nicole’s chest, and the friction made her feel things she was not supposed to feel. Nicole tried to put the thought out of her mind, focusing on holding Waverly, and soon her arms were holding nothing but air. Waverly surprised her by turning and grabbing her by the neck, then miming the knee kick again. Nicole laughed.

“You’re a quick study.”

“C’mon, again!” Waverly said.

Nicole put her arms around Waverly, and Waverly stood still.

“What’s up?” Nicole asked, dropping her arms. “Are you okay?”

“You’re being too gentle.”

“We’re just practicing though,” Nicole said.

“You just told me not to worry about hurting you, so you don’t worry either.”

Nicole pulled her in tightly and Waverly squirmed in her grip. Nicole’s senses were filled with Waverly; with the smell of her shampoo and the softness of her. It was scary to Nicole, how good it felt to have Waverly against her. The thought made her lose focus again and Waverly shook her off quickly.

“I said, don’t make it easy for me!” Waverly admonished.

“Sorry,” Nicole said.

This time she gripped Waverly as closely as she could and it took longer, but Waverly got herself away.

“Good work. Now I’m going to come at you from the front. I’ll act like I’m going to try and hit you. You use your forearm to deflect it, like this, and then hit me with your other hand.”

They practiced a few times, Waverly stopping her efficiently.

“You’re really good at this stuff,” Nicole said, and meant it. Of course, she’d noticed that Waverly was a little ball of muscle, but it was still remarkable how quickly she moved and how strong she was.

“I want to see how good you are,” Waverly said.

“What?”

“Close your eyes.”

“Okay,” Nicole said. Waverly had put been placing enormous trust in her, and she knew she owed it to her to do the same.

The wind rushed out of her and her eyes snapped open. Waverly had jumped onto her back and was holding her around her neck.

“Waverly!”

Nicole shivered when she felt Waverly’s breath close to her ear. “What? Come on, it’s your turn.”

“I don’t want to!”

“Nicole! Don’t be a pussy!”

“Did you really just say that?” Nicole said, through helpless laughter.

Waverly grabbed her even tighter. “Yep.

Nicole dropped down, stepped back and locked her leg around Waverly’s, and threw her as gently as she could down onto the grass.

She stood over Waverly, worried she’d gone too far. Relieved, she noticed that Waverly didn’t seem to have the wind knocked out of her too much. In fact, she was laying down there giggling.

Nicole put out her hand and Waverly grabbed it, letting herself be pulled up.

“I think that’s enough for one day,” Nicole said.

“That was fun. Can we do this more often? You were right, I think it will make me feel safer.”

“Okay,” Nicole agreed.

Conscious of the fact they were still holding hands, Nicole reluctantly dropped Waverly’s.

“Are you sure you’re alright? I didn’t just hurt you when I dropped you did I?”

They approached the house, and Nicole’s stomach fluttered when Waverly took her arm.

“You worry too much. I can handle it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to say thanks for all the kudos and comments, I really appreciate them. And Fuffy, I'm so glad you like it!


	4. Chapter 4

Nicole kept to her room in the evenings, doing her best to not intrude on the Earp sisters. Now and then she left to check on things, and to ensure that her presence was felt. It meant a lot to her that Waverly and Wynonna had invited her into their home. She wanted to do everything she could to make things better for them.

One night as she was coming back from outside she heard the two of them clowning around in the living room. Nicole poked her head around the corner.

“Hey guys, I’m heading up to bed.”

Wynonna threw up an arm and gestured for Nicole to come in. “Why don’t you have a drink with us? C’mon.”

They were sitting on the floor, the coffee table between them. There was an ice bucket on the center of it, with the neck of a frosted champagne bottle sticking out.

Before Nicole could answer, Waverly sprung up from the sofa. “I’ll get you a glass.”

“Oh no thank you, I shouldn’t…”

“Just one glass, please?” Waverly said as she passed her.

Nicole followed her with her eyes. “What’s the occasion?”

“Um, it’s Wednesday?” Wynonna replied.

Nicole edged into the living room. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to just have one.”

“Yay!” Waverly said as she moved past again, grabbing her hand and pulling her closer to the sofa. “Sit, relax.”

“You were right, we are celebrating something. My boyfriend is on a plane, coming home as we speak,” Wynonna said.

“Where’s he been?” Nicole asked, settling in against the sofa. Waverly curled up close next to her. Nicole could smell her perfume and she leaned closer.

“Australia. Soooo far away. He’ll be here tomorrow, you can meet him.”

“Looking forward to it,” Nicole said, feeling a twinge of apprehension. She’d gotten so used to it being mainly just the three of them, with people like the maid and Maxine coming in and out. Nicole wondered how often he’d be staying over and hoped he was a nice guy.

“So, what about you?”

“What _about_ me?”

“Do you have a special friend?” Wynonna asked.

“I’m single. Where would I be stashing this friend? I’ve been staying here for weeks.”

“So. This them, would they be a man or a lady? Or do you like both?”

Nicole laughed at Wynonna’s pushiness. She sipped from her glass to buy herself some time. Nicole’s eyes cut toward Waverly, who was staring intently at her. She considered telling Wynonna that it was none of her business, but she didn’t want to make a big thing of it. Nicole had never hidden her sexuality from anyone, and she wasn’t about to start now.

“Jeez. Yes. I like women. Anything else you’d like to know?”

Nicole glanced once more at Waverly, who was looking into her champagne glass.

“Alright, I was just wondering,” Wynonna said, shrugging. “You’re lucky. You could have ended up like Waverly here, who has the worst taste in men ever.”

“Hey!”

Nicole grinned at Waverly, swallowing another mouthful of the expensive champagne. The smile felt fake on her face. Though she’d known it was a strong possibility that Waverly was straight, she felt so disappointed that she’d be mortified if anyone ever knew about it.

“Yes, you do. See Nicole, Waverly was with this dude for ages, his name was Champ and he was the biggest…” Wynonna’s voice became muffled when Waverly put her hand over her mouth. Wynonna pulled the hand away. “Douche! Such a douche.”

“Okay, okay,” Nicole said. “I don’t need to hear about it if she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“I was young when we got together. He was my high school sweetheart, and I didn’t know any better,” Waverly explained.

“You only broke up with him like, six months ago. You can’t keep using age as an excuse,” Wynonna said.

Nicole watched Waverly’s expression change, sensing how uncomfortable she was with this conversation.

“You shouldn’t have to justify anything. Everyone’s made their fair share of mistakes when it comes to this stuff. I know I have. How else would any of us learn anything?” Nicole said.

Waverly smiled gratefully at her.

Nicole took the last swallow from her glass, glad that she could go now and be alone. From now on when she was counting her mistakes, she’d have to include this situation. Developing a crush on such an unattainable woman was one of the most careless things Nicole had ever done with her own heart.

 

As she’d known that it might, Henry’s arrival changed the dynamic in the mansion. Nicole found herself with less to do than before, because he and Wynonna were spending a lot of time holed up in her wing of the house. Wynonna had asked Waverly to clear her schedule. Henry and Wynonna only came out to the rest of the mansion to retrieve food and alcohol.

Nicole was crawling the walls. At all times, she was conscious of where Waverly was in the house. Nicole made a promise to herself that unless Waverly approached her, she would keep her distance. She needed to do everything she could to make these feelings subside.

In the afternoon of the third day, Nicole went out to the yard to work off some tension. Waverly was nowhere to be seen, and the maid was gone for the day. Wynonna and her boyfriend were only sighted briefly that morning, when Nicole caught them slinking out of the kitchen with sheets wrapped around themselves.

Nicole put in her ear buds and turned her music up loud. She wouldn’t normally block out one of her senses while she was on the job, but given that Wynonna was inside she figured it didn’t matter. Nicole hadn’t been exercising too much since coming here, but she usually liked to keep in good shape for work.

Nicole was doing some crunches when she had the sense that she wasn’t alone. She sat up and turned around quickly with her heart pounding, and saw that it was Waverly.

Nicole pulled the buds from her ears. Waverly was standing a few feet away, staring down at her.

“Oh, hey. I didn’t hear you, I’m sorry,” Nicole said, gesturing to the headphones.

“That’s okay, I just got here,” Waverly said. There was an unreadable look on her face, but to Nicole it looked something like guilt. It was as though she’d been there for a while.

“Everything okay?” Nicole said. The sports bra she was wearing covered a lot of skin but still she felt exposed under Waverly’s gaze. She picked up the tank top lying on the ground next to her and pulled it on.

“Uh huh, everything’s fine,” Waverly said, shifting from foot to foot.

Nicole stood up. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I was just wondering. I remembered what you said about liking Bette Davis and I got curious so I looked her up online. And then I realized I hadn’t seen any of her movies so I got this,” Waverly said, moving a DVD she had been holding behind her back out in front of herself.

“ _All About Eve_. Great choice, definitely one of her best.”

“You’ve already seen it?” Waverly said.

“Yeah, of course. It’s one of her most famous ones. One of my favorite movies too. I think you’ll like it.”

“I was going to see if you wanted to watch it with me later, but if you’ve already seen it…”

“Believe me, it’s the kind of movie you want to watch more than once. I’d love to.”

“Great,” Waverly said, beaming at her. “I went to the market too. I thought I could make us dinner before we watch it. I got popcorn too.”

“Sounds like fun. Okay, well I’ll just have a shower and do a few more things for work, then I’ll come down and help cook.”

“Oh no, I’m happy to do it. Dinner will be ready at seven sharp.”

 

As Nicole showered, she tamped down the burst of excitement in her stomach. She was so looking forward to spending time with Waverly that it felt like she was going on a date. Nicole had to bring herself back down to earth by remembering that Waverly was just lonely, because Wynonna was so absent right now.

Accepting the invitation to watch the movie had been an impulsive decision. She probably shouldn’t have done it, but it was too late to do anything about it.

When she got back to her room Nicole called Reggie to give him an update.

“It’s been really quiet here.”

“Nothing from the cops, either?” Reggie asked.

“Nope. I think everyone’s starting to wonder if it was just some crazy guy who’s done with it. There haven’t been any more letters, nothing.”

“And she still wants our service?”

Nicole shrugged. “She hasn’t said otherwise. I can ask her again tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I mean, we can keep taking her money for as long as she wants. You know it’s been nearly four weeks though, right?”

“What do you mean?” Nicole asked, though she knew very well what he was driving at.

“You’ve been there too long on your own, I’ve got to put someone else in if this is going to continue. Do you want to do four days on, three days off? You on the four?”

“Sure, that’d work,” Nicole said, running a hand through her hair. She’d known it was coming, but it wasn’t going to be an easy conversation to have with either Wynonna or Waverly.

 

When Nicole came downstairs, she could see that Waverly had gone to some effort. The smells from the cooking were delicious. Waverly had brought out a good bottle of wine from the cellar, put a new cloth on the table, and had music playing.

“This is so nice, thank you,” Nicole said as Waverly laid down a bowl of pasta in front of her. “I feel kind of spoiled.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“How was your day?”

“Not bad. I ran some errands for Wynonna, had a meeting with Maxine about some stuff. Oh, and I finished one of my essays.”

“Congratulations. I bet you’re a good student, right? You get good grades?”

Waverly shrugged, but she was smiling.

“You’re a straight A student, aren’t you?”

“Yep. Never gotten less.”

“I knew it,” Nicole said. “I knew you were a nerd.”

Waverly playfully kicked Nicole’s leg under the table. “Stop. What about you? How was your day?”

“I talked to the boss. I should probably tell you and Wynonna together but seeing as she’s indisposed, I’ll tell you first.”

“Oh? Do you know something about the guy that attacked us?”

“No, I’m sorry, it’s nothing like that. Reggie thinks that if I’m continuing I can’t stay here full time, it’s just not sustainable. We need to get in another agent.”

“You’re leaving?” Waverly asked, a panicked note in her voice.

“No,” Nicole said, putting a comforting hand over Waverly’s. “It’s just that I should have had a second person here a while ago, to help carry the load. We’ll split up the week, so I can go home for half the time.”

“Oh…of course,” Waverly replied. She was playing with her glass, running her finger around the rim.

“I’ll make sure they put someone good in. I can make a recommendation to Reggie, so I can pick someone I think you’ll like.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Waverly said.

Nicole continued looking at her, waiting for Waverly to meet her eye again. “I know Wynonna might not be too happy about having another person here. I know how much she values her privacy.”

Waverly nodded. “She’s come to trust you now. It might be hard with someone else.”

“I’m sorry about that. I’d stay if I could, but it really has been a while.”

“I know. I’ll talk to her.”

 

After dinner Nicole helped load the dishwasher and they got ready to watch the movie. Nicole was unsettled by how quiet Waverly had become. She’d made polite small talk since Nicole mentioned the changes, but it was obvious that it was still on her mind.

Waverly cued up the film and they sat side by side on the plush sofa. Nicole had seen _All About Eve_ countless times, and it was more fun to watch Waverly’s reaction to the sharp wit and clever lines than it was to watch the movie again.

Nicole looked over at Waverly’s face, illuminated by the black and white images on the screen. After a while Waverly looked back over at her, grinning, and Nicole knew she’d been caught.

“Sorry. It’s just that it’s nice to see how much you’re enjoying it,” Nicole said.

Waverly shook her head to show that it was okay, and edged closer to her on the sofa. Soon there was no space between them at all. Nicole’s breath sped up when she felt Waverly’s warm skin connecting with hers.

What was she supposed to make of this? There had been so many little signs over the past few weeks that Waverly might like her too, but she’d dismissed them as wishful thinking. It was simpler for Nicole to tell herself that Waverly was only being warm and affectionate, but the tension between them at moments like this told her otherwise.

A few minutes passed while Nicole held her breath. She held as still as she could, not daring to look at Waverly anymore.

It was painful to sit here like this and do nothing. Nicole had never been shy with women. If she liked someone, she made sure they knew it, but these were not normal circumstances.

Soon Waverly withdrew her arm, and Nicole assumed with a pang of disappointment that it was over, that she’d move away. Instead, Waverly grabbed one of the throw cushions next to her and laid it on Nicole’s lap. Then she stretched out on the sofa as she lay her head on the pillow against Nicole.

Nicole sat motionless, looking down at Waverly. The closeness was so intimate, so warm and sweet. It flooded through her. Finally, Nicole tentatively reached down and ran her fingers through silky hair. It was as soft as she’d imagined it would be. She let it slide over her hand again and again. Nicole took in the way Waverly moved in response; the subtle shift of her body against the sofa.

Nicole continued exploring. She touched Waverly’s shoulder, feeling the warmth of her skin through the fabric of her shirt. As her hand lay there, Waverly’s fingers came to rest on Nicole’s knee. Nicole rubbed light circles over Waverly’s skin, her thumb stroking gently.

“That feels really nice,” Waverly said quietly.

Nicole’s palm felt alive with the sensation of Waverly’s skin. For the next few minutes she kept her hand there, now and then running it down Waverly’s arm.

Feeling bolder now, Nicole’s hand travelled down further to Waverly’s waist. Waverly’s shirt had ridden up slightly and Nicole’s fingers found bare skin. Waverly jumped and Nicole pulled her fingers away, mortified.

Waverly seized her fingers. “It’s okay,” she said, putting them back where they’d been.

Nicole saw the way Waverly rubbed her feet together, like she was having trouble laying still. She was still facing straight ahead, watching the movie, but Nicole wondered how much she was taking in.

Nicole closed her eyes, lost in the sensation of stroking Waverly’s flesh. She tried to ignore the uncertainty of what they were doing. Was Waverly just one of those touchy-feely girls, the type who would do this with any of her female friends? Was she even feeling what Nicole was feeling?

All Nicole knew was that somehow despite the apparent chasteness of it, this was one of the most sensual experiences she’d ever had.

When the movie ended, they each remained where they were. Nicole kept softly playing her hand against Waverly’s waist.

The house was quiet around them; it was dark and they were all alone. The pull between them was so thick that Nicole didn’t know what she was going to do when Waverly sat up. Nicole wanted so badly to keep touching her. Nicole could think of nothing more exquisite than laying Waverly down beneath her and kissing her for hours.

Nicole looked down at Waverly, watching for a signal that might tell her what Waverly wanted. She could see Waverly’s chest rapidly rising and falling with quickened breath. Was it possible that Waverly craved intimacy between them as much as Nicole did?

Nicole’s heart was pounding in her ears. She was afraid of how little she cared about the consequences in this moment. For weeks, she’d been feeling guilty about her feelings and trying to keep herself in check. It would be so satisfying to just give in.

Squeezing her eyes shut again, she reminded herself of everything she had to lose. Even if nobody else ever found out, she’d know herself that she’d behaved unethically. Her sense of right and wrong was something she’d always prided herself on.

At last she gathered the strength to open her eyes.

“I should be getting up to bed,” Nicole said, forcing a lightness to her tone. “It must be getting late.”

“Right,” Waverly said tightly, moving away until she was sitting upright. “Great movie.”

“Glad you liked it,” Nicole said, rapidly rising from the sofa and reaching forward to pick up the untouched bowl of popcorn from the table. “You go on ahead, I’ll clean up. I want to do a quick check outside anyway.”

“I can help…”

“You did dinner, please let me.”

“Okay. Well, goodnight,” Waverly replied.

“Night,” Nicole said. She heard the question in Waverly’s tone, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at her. Nicole wasn’t sure how long her good intentions would last if she did.

After Nicole had changed and cleaned her teeth, she walked down the dark hall to her room. For a moment, she paused outside her door. She imagined Waverly in her bed, so close by, and she wondered if Waverly was thinking about her too.

Sighing heavily, she walked on.


	5. Chapter 5

Nicole passed a sleepless night, tossing and turning. Unfulfilled desire coursed through her, and all she could think about was what might have happened if she’d shut up and let Waverly set the agenda. The possibilities ran through her mind and she imagined Waverly straddling her on the sofa, Nicole sliding her hands up Waverly’s back. Even the thought of just kissing Waverly made Nicole feel so hot it was unbearable.

Though she let her fantasies take over in the dark, in the harsh light of day Nicole knew she had to face reality. There was no choice other than to start being more careful. As she showered, Nicole stood under the cold needles of water and resolved that she would stop putting herself in situations like she had last night. If she kept flirting with the line she was going to cross it.

When she got downstairs, Waverly was already there.

Nicole stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Waverly, who hadn’t heard her come down, was stirring scrambled eggs in a skillet. Waverly was barefoot and her hair fell softly around her face. Nicole watched her, a lump rising in her throat. Though nothing had really happened between them she felt a strange sense of loss at the thought that she was going to have to start pushing Waverly away.

“Good morning,” Nicole said.

Waverly jumped, putting a hand on her stomach. “Hey.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“That’s okay. I guess I was off in my own world.”

Waverly’s eyes flicked over her and Nicole felt last night’s tension rising again. In a different world, she would be certain of what Waverly wanted. She wouldn’t be here on a job and she would throw away restraint. Nicole would cross the floor and take Waverly in her arms, kissing her good morning. She would slide her hands through Waverly’s hair, and feel that amazing body against her own.

“Can I help you with something?” Nicole said.

“You can make some toast?”

“Of course.”

As they sat down to eat, Nicole forced herself to act more cheerful than she felt. Like her, Waverly seemed distracted. Did she regret how close they’d been last night? The thought made Nicole’s stomach drop. If there was any possibility that Nicole had done things Waverly didn’t want, it would kill her. In some ways Waverly wore her emotions on her sleeve, but Nicole couldn’t read her this morning.

“I was thinking I’d go home this weekend. It’s probably better to start the new arrangement as soon as possible, so we can all get used to it.”

“If you think that’s best,” Waverly said, her eyes downcast.

“I was wondering if you had any ideas about what kind of person I should request? You know Wynonna better than me.”

Waverly shrugged. “Someone like you.”

Nicole spooned some eggs onto her toast, letting the silence stretch out for a moment.

“Like me how? Do you think she’d want another female guard? Because we actually don’t have that many.”

“Just…no, that doesn’t matter. Someone kind, I guess. I don’t know, I’ll ask her and let you know.”

“Thank you.”

There was another silence, and Nicole wished she knew what to say.

“Actually, you know what, why don’t we talk to her together, when she gets up this morning?” Waverly said.

“Sounds great,” Nicole said. She smiled gratefully across at Waverly, and the way Waverly returned it melted her. Waverly had the most beautiful smile, and Nicole had always liked trying to bring it out of her. She loved to see the way it changed her face, and the way it went straight to her eyes. It was never difficult, because Waverly was the kind of person who smiled easily and often. It was one of the many things that Nicole liked about her.

 

Wynonna and Henry sat across from them at the dining table, their entwined hands resting on the surface in front of them. Waverly slid into the seat next to Nicole.

“What’s up?” Wynonna asked. “Waves said you had something important to say.”

“I have to talk to you about the way my role’s structured. You’ll remember when I started, that Reggie spoke to you about the fact that we’d have to bring someone else on?”

“Yep,” Wynonna said. “Why, is it time?”

“It is,” Nicole nodded. “I’m assuming you still want security at this point?”

“I guess so. I mean, do you think I still need it? There’s been no other sign of this guy.”

Waverly broke in. “Of course, you still need it, Wynonna! Just because we haven’t seen him doesn’t mean he’s not still around. It’s probably having Nicole with us that’s kept him away.”

“You know she’s right,” Henry added. “And I’ve got that shoot coming up in New York, I’d feel much better if I knew you had someone here.”

Wynonna held up her hands. “Jeez, I was just thinking out loud. Alright. So, what would it look like, then?”

“I’d still be here four days a week, then I’d alternate with another person who’d take the rest of the week. It would start this weekend. I wanted to talk to you about whether you had any requests.”

Wynonna propped her hand on her chin. “I trust your judgement Haught. Just don’t get anyone that’s going to be a dick about things, or I’ll toss them out. And they can sleep in the guest house until I decide I like them. At least while Henry’s here.”

“Did you just give me a sideways compliment?” Nicole asked.

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Anyway, Henry and I want to go out for lunch. You want to come, Waves?”

“Sure,” Waverly said. “Let’s do it.”

 

Nicole scanned the restaurant when they walked inside. It wasn’t the type of place she’d imagined Wynonna liking; a trendy place where everything on the menu had “organic” in front of it.

“You guys enjoy yourself. I’m going to sit over in that corner,” Nicole said, pointing.

As she walked toward the table she became aware that Waverly was following closely behind her.

“Waverly, what are you doing?” Nicole asked.

“Sitting with you?”

“Wynonna invited you out to lunch,” Nicole said. She glanced over at Wynonna and Henry and saw that they’d taken their seats. Wynonna was facing them and Henry glanced back over his shoulder at them, a smirk on his face. Wynonna had never seemed to notice the undercurrent that flowed between Waverly and Nicole, but it seemed that Henry was more observant. It made a wave of shame break over Nicole. What if he said something to Wynonna?

“I can see her any time,” Waverly said, waving her hand dismissively. “I won’t get to see you all weekend.”

“Waverly. I’m not here to hang out with you, I’m here to work. You need to go and sit with your sister.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Nicole wished she could take them back. Waverly took a step back from her, a wounded look in her eyes though she tried to keep smiling.

“Wait, Waves…” Nicole said, but it was too late. Waverly had turned away, with her shoulders drawn up tight, and was walking toward Wynonna and Henry’s booth. Nicole stared after her, her face burning.

Nicole ordered coffee and sat watching the three of them talking and laughing. It didn’t escape her notice that Waverly didn’t look over at her the whole time they were eating, not once. Nicole waited, hoping to have the chance to smile at her, to send the message with her eyes that she was sorry.

As soon as they got back to the house Waverly made a beeline for her room, saying that she had to study. Again, she refused to make eye contact with Nicole, whose heart sank as Waverly walked up the stairs.

“Hey, listen, are you guys going to be staying in for a while? I should go into the office and get things organized,” Nicole said.

“Sure thing,” Wynonna replied.

 

When Nicole returned, Waverly’s jeep was missing from the drive. Nicole couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Waverly’s face earlier, and she was desperate to talk to her and make things right. For the rest of the afternoon she was on high alert, hoping to hear the sound of her engine outside. While she waited Nicole went through the guest house to make sure she hadn’t left anything behind and then tidied up her room in the main house.

In the evening when Nicole was wandering the mansion, she came across Wynonna and Henry in the kitchen raiding the fridge.

“Hey guys,” she greeted them.

“Good evening,” Henry said, and Wynonna nodded to her.

“It’s all arranged. I’ll leave tomorrow morning and a guy called Steve will be coming in. I think you’ll like him okay.”

“I’d better, or I’ll make his life hell,” Wynonna said, cackling to herself as she ate peanut butter from a spoon. “He’ll get the pool treatment for sure.”

Nicole shook her head. “So mean. Have you seen Waverly? Just so I can tell her too.”

“Oh, she didn’t tell you? She’s gone for a drive, she wanted to visit our aunt. She’ll be gone for a few days.”

“Right. I guess she’ll meet him soon enough anyway,” Nicole said with a sinking heart. “I’ll catch you later.”

 

The weekend was long and lonely. Nicole threw herself back into her life, having brunch with friends she hadn’t seen in a while and running errands. It felt empty and she hated how much she wanted to get back to work. Every time she was alone she found herself brooding over Waverly. She just wanted to see her, to know that she was okay.

It was all her fault. How could Waverly know that it wasn’t okay for them to sit together at lunch? Nicole had been sending her all the wrong messages. Of course, the worst example was the way she’d acted when they were watching that movie together. Nicole had done everything but kiss Waverly. She burned with shame when she thought about it, but it was always mixed in with how much desire she’d felt.

Nicole considered calling Waverly to apologize, but something made her keep her distance. It was the kind of conversation that was best had in person. Besides, she couldn’t berate herself for crossing the line and then bother Waverly with calling when she wasn’t even at work.

Monday couldn’t come quickly enough. In the morning, she drove over to the Earp mansion so excited to see Waverly again that she couldn’t stop fidgeting. Aside from all the worrying she’d done, she just plain _missed_ Waverly. It was going to be tricky to navigate putting in some boundaries with her, but Nicole felt up to the challenge. At least she’d be able to see Waverly; she’d get to look at Waverly’s smile and hear her voice again.

Nicole met with Steve when she arrived. He was a good worker, and Nicole had always respected him. She’d wanted to make sure that Wynonna and Waverly had the best.

“How did everything go?” Nicole asked him.

Steve shrugged. “All good. Uneventful. That Wynonna is a firecracker though, huh? She’s gonna keep me on my toes.”

“She is that,” Nicole said.

“And the sister is a sweet girl,” Steve added. “I met her last night.”

Nicole felt a surge of jealousy. Steve was just making conversation, she was sure of it, but she suddenly hated the thought that he and Waverly might get along well. Would Waverly ever make breakfast for him? Would they ever sit and watch a movie together? Guiltily, Nicole realized that Steve would never do anything so unprofessional even if Waverly invited him to.

“Well, thanks Steve. I’ll take it from here,” Nicole said, and they shook hands.

“I’ll see you Friday morning.”

Nicole walked through the mansion, but Waverly didn’t seem to be around. Her bedroom door was shut and Nicole stood outside for a moment, listening for noises to see if she was there.

When she finally saw her, it was late afternoon. Waverly was lying by the pool next to Wynonna. Nicole carefully avoided looking at Waverly’s body, ignoring how much her eyes were pulled toward that bikini and the smooth skin it covered.

“Hey guys,” Nicole said.

“Heeeeeey Nicole,” Wynonna said lazily. “Nice to have you back."

“Hello,” Waverly said, not opening her eyes.

“Everything go okay with Steve?”

Wynonna held up her thumb. “He’s a little dumb, but he’ll be fine.”

“Good. No biggie but you really should have told me you were going to be out here, I would have made sure I was around,” Nicole said.

“We don’t have to fill you in on our every move, you’re not our mom. You worked it out,” Waverly said sharply.

Nicole looked down at Waverly’s face, but Waverly kept her eyes tightly closed. Waverly had every right to be upset with her, but it the tone of it hurt. Wynonna raised her eyebrows and looked at her sister, then back at Nicole in confusion.

Silently, Nicole walked away from them and around the yard, aching with the fear that Waverly was going to be like this with her from now on.

 

For the rest of the evening Nicole made herself scarce. She slipped into the kitchen when nobody was around and threw together a quick dinner.

Nicole picked at the food in her room. This was exactly why it was so important to not fraternize with your clients. If she hadn’t allowed things to get so messy with Waverly, she wouldn’t be feeling this awkward right now.

As the night wore on, Nicole searched for signs of when Waverly was retiring for the night. It might border on inappropriate to approach Waverly in her bedroom, but she had to do something to clear the air. It was obvious that Waverly was going to continue avoiding her, and Nicole couldn’t risk trying to separate her from Wynonna to talk. Wynonna had obviously already picked up on the hostility from Waverly toward her, and Nicole didn’t want her to become any more suspicious.

Nicole did her final patrol and changed into a blue tank and some gray pants. She sat cross legged on her bed reading until at last she heard Waverly’s bedroom door opening and closing. Nicole jumped up and crossed the hall, softly rapping on the door. Her first knock was met with silence so she knocked again.

When Waverly opened the door, it stole Nicole’s breath away. Waverly was wearing a blue silk robe, and when she looked back at Nicole her eyes were more sad than angry.

“Waverly? Can I please come in and talk to you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all your kudos and kind words. I promise to not tease ya'll for too much longer ;)


	6. Chapter 6

They sat side-by-side on the bed. Never having been inside Waverly’s room before, Nicole looked around in wonder. Everything about it was so fitting for Waverly, who had clearly taken a lot of care in decorating it. The walls were lined with framed photographs of her sister and friends, and there were colorful fabrics draped everywhere. The king-sized bed with its mahogany frame was so soft. Though the lights were off, the lamp on the nightstand gave off a gentle glow.

“Your room is really nice,” Nicole said.

Waverly faced straight ahead, her eyes flicking across to Nicole when she spoke.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“I wanted to say how sorry I am for how I spoke to you in the restaurant last week. I know it was hurtful and I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”

Waverly was quiet, as though weighing her words. When she spoke, her voice was raised slightly.

“You made me feel so stupid for trying to sit with you. There was no need to be like that.”

Nicole reached for Waverly’s knee, then quickly drew her hand back.

“I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. I feel terrible about it.”

“Then why did you say it?”

“I don’t know…it was about work. Waverly, do you know how I’d feel if I ever got distracted and something happened to Wynonna? Or to you?”

“But we’d been hanging out for weeks, and suddenly you were acting like that was a bad thing. Did you feel like that the whole time? Did you never really want me around?”

 “Oh no, Waverly. It wasn’t like that at all. I’ve loved getting to know you. It was just that we were out in public, where there were so many people,” Nicole said gently. “I needed to focus.”

“You know, I’ve always been the kid sister, the one who tags along while Wynonna does all her big events and stuff. I just never expected you to make me feel like that.”

“Waverly, how could you think I’d see you that way?” Nicole’s voice cracked with emotion. Swept up in it, she grabbed Waverly’s hand. “Listen. I don’t think of you as just Wynonna’s little sister. You must know that. If it wasn’t for work, I’d…”

Waverly looked down at their joined hands. Nicole felt the familiar fluttering in her stomach that came from being close to Waverly. When Waverly brushed her thumb on the back of Nicole’s hand, Nicole kept her expression neutral to cover the way it affected her.

“You’d what?” Waverly asked.

Nicole swallowed hard. “Nothing, I just mean I wouldn’t have sent you away like that. I should have talked to you sooner about this stuff. It’s not fair I let it get to that point.”

“What do you mean? What do you wish you’d said to me?”

“I’ve been acting way too familiar with you. The breakfasts, the…the movie and stuff. I’m not supposed to be friends with the people I work for. What I’ve been doing with you is wrong, and I’m so sorry.”

Waverly angrily pulled her hand away.

“So, is that it? You didn’t just come here to say sorry, did you? You came here to tell me how it’s going to be now.”

 “Waverly,” Nicole said, covering her face and taking a deep breath. “I really did want to apologize. But we also need to work this stuff out. This is about the job, it’s nothing personal at all.”

“Is it against the law for us to be friends, or something?” Waverly said.

“There’s no law against it, but it’s unprofessional. If we have any kind of personal relationship it compromises my ability to do my job.”

“But I’m not even the one you’re here to protect, it’s Wynonna!” Waverly said.

“It doesn’t matter, you’re her sister _and_ you work for her. Things have got to change. Do you understand?”

“Nope, not really. It doesn’t make sense to me why you’re changing everything now. If this is such a big problem why didn’t I know about it before?”

Nicole ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. They weren’t getting anywhere, and maybe it would be best if she left. There was a chance that if Waverly cooled down she’d think about it and be more understanding. Still, Nicole was bitterly disappointed that she hadn’t been able to smooth things over. She hadn’t envisioned before she came in here that she would make things even worse.

“I think I’d better go,” Nicole said sadly, standing up. Waverly didn’t react; she was sitting and staring into space. “I know it sucks but I’ll still be here Waves, I’m not going anywhere.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“What don’t I know?”

Waverly ran a thumb over her palm, scratching at her skin. She wouldn’t meet Nicole’s eye.

“What did you mean by that?” Nicole prodded.

“It means, you don’t get that the fact you’re still here makes it worse. If you left, I might have a chance of getting over you.”

The admission stunned Nicole into silence. Nicole had bitten her tongue, avoiding talking about her own feelings, and she’d never imagined that Waverly would say something like this. Nicole felt sick. This was all her doing because she’d flirted with Waverly. Nicole had never been able to admit to herself how much she wanted Waverly to like her back. Now that it had happened, she understood how selfish she’d been.

“Oh, Waverly,” Nicole said at last, taking a shaky breath. “I am so sorry.”

Waverly stood up. They faced one another.

Nicole tried to hold herself steady. She was floored that Waverly liked her, and she wished so badly that she could say how she felt, too. It would be unfair when they couldn’t act on it, and Nicole had caused enough damage.

“I’m going to go, okay? If you want me to resign, I will, but can we just sleep on it for tonight?”

Waverly looked so hurt, and guilt washed through Nicole. How had it come to this, to a point where she was doing this to someone she really cared about?

Nicole turned and walked out of the room, closing Waverly’s door and crossing back over the hall into her room. She shut her door behind her softly and sat on her bed, tensely lacing her fingers together and staring down at the floor.

It was against everything that she had always thought she stood for, but she wanted to fling all her principles aside and go to Waverly. She wanted it more than she could ever remember wanting anything.

She heard Waverly’s door opening and Nicole’s breath caught in her throat as footsteps advanced and stopped. Nicole stared at the door, willing it to open, but somehow she knew that Waverly was waiting for her. It wouldn’t take much for all her resolve to crumble, for her to decide that she didn’t care about being good. She stood up slowly, edging toward the door, her body taut with anticipation.

Finally, she opened it and came face to face with Waverly. Nicole said her name, once, breathing it out like a prayer.

 As Nicole moved closer to her, the smell of Waverly’s shampoo reached Nicole, and she was awed by it. She reached out her hand and took Waverly’s.

“Come here,” she said.

Waverly followed and Nicole closed the door behind them.

Nicole stepped forward into Waverly’s space.

She was so close that she could feel Waverly’s rapid breath against her skin. Waverly tipped her head back, her eyes never leaving Nicole’s. Nicole reached out and ran her finger around Waverly’s lips, tracing their softness. She watched Waverly close her eyes, and then open them again.

Nicole slowly inched closer, searching Waverly’s expression. There was mainly want in it, and a trace of nervousness that Nicole could relate to. Her own heart thudded heavily in her chest.

When they made contact they each stayed still, their lips lightly pressed together. Then Waverly’s arms came around her neck, and Nicole put her hands to Waverly’s waist. Nicole tested the velvet softness of Waverly’s mouth, drinking in the sweetness of her lips.

At last, she kissed her properly, moving her mouth against Waverly’s. Nicole was pleasantly shocked at how urgently Waverly kissed her back. After a while Waverly opened her mouth and Nicole felt her tongue sliding against her own. Nicole felt it down low, and she pulled Waverly closer against her hips. Nicole lifted her hands and ran them over Waverly’s shoulders, then over her back, before letting them rest on Waverly’s waist again.

Nicole sank into it, their mouths joining in a perfect union. All these past weeks had built to this moment. She’d done her best to not think about what this would be like, but in any case, she never could have imagined how right this would feel.

At last they pulled apart, slowly drawing away from one another. They were both breathing hard and Nicole rested her forehead against Waverly’s.

“Waverly. We shouldn’t be doing this,” Nicole said.

“Do you want to stop?”

Nicole sighed against Waverly, whose hips were still in her hands. “I don’t think so, do you?”

They had kissed, and she was already in deeper than she would care to admit. What further harm could it do, just for tonight, to kiss her some more?

Waverly pulled her downward and their lips joined again. Nicole moved one of her hands up to the side of Waverly’s face, cupping her jaw in her hand and stroking her skin with her thumb. Waverly’s hand was doing its own exploring and Nicole felt it at her waist, Waverly’s fingers under the hem of her top.

Their bodies were pressed together, their hips gently rocking against one another’s. Nicole could feel the softness of Waverly’s breasts pressed against her. One of Waverly’s hands went up and to the back of her head, playing against her hair.

Waverly’s tongue was in her mouth once more, and their lips fit together perfectly. Nicole could hear their breath, so loud in the quiet room. She wanted to lie down with Waverly, to feel their bodies close to one another on the soft bed, but she knew that it might take things to a place they shouldn’t go. If there weren’t so many things to consider, she’d untie Waverly’s robe, she’d kiss Waverly until she couldn’t see straight.

Nicole pulled away again, reluctantly. She tried to slow her breath, but it wasn’t easy with the way Waverly was looking at her.

“What?” Waverly said.

“Nothing,” Nicole said. She reached forward and held Waverly close against her, encircling Waverly with her arms and holding her. Waverly’s arms came around her too and they stood together.

“Do you really want to resign?” Waverly asked.

“Of course, I don’t want to. I don’t want to go away from you. It’s just that this is really not okay in my job. I thought it might be better if I went.”

“Wynonna would kill me if you resigned because of me.”

“Would she be mad if she knew we…”

Nicole closed her mouth against anything more. It was too early to say that she and Waverly were anything at all.

“She wouldn’t care that we’d kissed or whatever. In case you can’t tell, she doesn’t really care about rules. She’d be madder if I messed things up for her and we had to get in another person she didn’t like,” Waverly said. “She’s okay about Steve but only because you’re here more of the time.”

“So, what do you mean, do you think we should tell her?” Nicole asked, horror overcoming her at the thought.

Nicole felt Waverly laughing against her throat. “Not if you don’t want to. Why can’t we just wait and see what happens? You won’t work here forever.”

“You mean, I just see out my time here? I guess we could do that. Keep it to ourselves, and wait it out.”

“I could get on board with that plan,” Waverly said.

“Okay, I think this is worth waiting for,” Nicole said. She moved to kiss Waverly’s temple. “If you do.”

“Of course, I do.”

“I’d love to take you out when this is all over, but in the meantime, we’re going to have to be careful.”

“Careful how?”

Nicole drew back so that she could look into Waverly’s eyes.

“Well, we’ll have to be discreet. I meant it about being distracted. I wish things didn’t have to change, but we’ll have to cut back on the hanging out. There’ll be plenty of time for that later?” Nicole said cautiously, not wanting to upset Waverly again.

Waverly smiled up at her. “Okay. I understand. To be honest I was mad because I felt like you were playing games with me, like you’d changed your mind about me or something. I just wanted to know what you were thinking.”

“No way. I haven't changed my mind,” Nicole bit her lip. “I’m really going to have to work extra hard, get this job wrapped up.”

“You’d better,” Waverly said, running her hands over Nicole’s shoulders. “And I’m guessing we can’t do this anymore either, right?”

“It might kill me but no, I don’t think we should. It would be the biggest distraction of all.”

“Alright. Do you want me to go now?”

Nicole shook her head. They stood staring at one another, neither of them moving. Nicole leaned down and kissed Waverly’s lips softly.

“I guess if it’s the last time in a while…” Nicole started.

In a second Waverly was reaching for her again, and they kissed hungrily. Nicole walked them toward the bed, gently pushing Waverly down so that she was lying on her side and Waverly was beneath her. Nicole put her fingers in Waverly’s hair and leaned in, until they were kissing open-mouthed, the heat between them driving her crazy. Waverly’s hand was in her hair again, grabbing insistently at the back of her head and holding her close.

Nicole moved down to Waverly’s neck, kissing and licking her skin. She could hear Waverly, practically panting underneath her, her back arching as she pushed forward. Nicole looked down, seeing the belt of Waverly’s robe within her reach. She paused, feeling desperate to open it, wanting so much to reveal more of Waverly’s perfect body.

Nicole moved up to kiss Waverly again, purposefully slowing her kisses and drawing her hand away from Waverly’s waist. She sighed as she moved away from Waverly’s lips.

“Okay, I think we’d better really stop this time. I seem to be having a little trouble holding back.”

Waverly gazed up at her silently, then at last she nodded. Sitting up, she rose from the bed. Nicole lay on her side, propping herself up on her elbow.

Waverly walked around to her side of the bed and leaned down.

“Goodnight,” Waverly said.

Waverly put a finger under her chin and tilted her face for better access to her mouth, then gave Nicole one last lingering kiss. It was the kind of kiss that promised so much, her tongue gliding softly into Nicole’s mouth, then grazing against her bottom lip as she pulled away. Nicole’s hand reached out involuntarily to keep Waverly where she was, but Waverly had already pulled away and was heading toward the door.

She looked over her shoulder at Nicole, who stared back at her and grinned knowingly. Waverly meant to do exactly what she was doing, and Nicole did not mind one bit.

“Yes okay, goodnight,” Nicole said, a playful edge of sarcasm in her tone.

When the door closed behind Waverly she grabbed a pillow and held it over her face, groaning into it. She didn’t know how on earth she was going to sleep tonight.


	7. Chapter 7

Nicole had always been a diligent agent, but now she threw herself into her work like a woman possessed. She scoured every piece of mail Wynonna received, and contacted the police so often that she could hear the exasperation in their voices.

Nicole was desperate to see the stalker arrested. Of course, she always wanted to see the bad guy get caught, but it was now a matter of extreme urgency. Waverly was right in front of her yet so far out of reach. Nicole was in the painful position of observing her from a distance, when all she wanted to do was to reach out and touch her. The intensity of her desire was difficult to bear.

Though they’d reached an understanding in Waverly’s room that night, Nicole worried that things might cool off and that Waverly would change her mind. What if Waverly got tired of waiting, and didn’t want to see her after all of this was over? She didn’t know Waverly well enough to gauge how serious this all was for her, or if Waverly was the type to ghost her.

When they passed in the halls they’d acknowledge one another coolly, nodding or smiling. Nicole made a point of ensuring that she was in the kitchen at least half an hour earlier than Waverly so that she could make breakfast and eat by herself at the counter. There was always a printed copy of Wynonna’s schedule ready for her to go through, now that they weren’t having their meetings over breakfast. Each morning Nicole made a fresh pot of coffee so that it would be waiting for Waverly when she got up.  

At night Nicole spent more time in her room than ever, careful to not be drawn into any conversations with Wynonna while Waverly was around. She shortened the days by falling asleep as early as she could, trying to ignore the fact that Waverly was just across the hall. The resistance was futile. All she could think about was Waverly in her bed, mere feet away.

On Thursday evening, Nicole came back from walking around outside, and decided to do one last check of the rooms as a formality. She assumed that Waverly was already in her bedroom and planned to skip it, along with Wynonna’s quarters. Nicole moved slowly from room to room, checking that all the windows were locked tight. When she came to Waverly’s study she stopped in the doorway. Waverly was scribbling furiously in a notebook with her laptop open in front of her.

“Hey. I didn’t realize you were still up,” Nicole said.

Waverly jumped and turned toward her. “Yep. Just doing some research. I’ve got another hour in me, at least.”

Because Nicole had only seen Waverly in passing for the last few days she took the opportunity to drink in the view. Waverly’s hair was half pulled back from her face, and Nicole admired her beauty, her cheekbones and jawline.

“You’re so pretty,” Nicole said, leaning her head against the doorframe. Waverly sat still, searching her face, and Nicole could see how pleased she was.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to say things like that,” Waverly teased. “Are you?”

Nicole shook her head. “Definitely not. I go in the morning, early. I won’t see you.”

“I’ll miss you over the weekend.”

Nicole smiled at her. “We’ve barely seen one another since Monday.”

“I know. I’ll miss you anyway.”

“What will you miss the most?”

“Are you fishing for a compliment?” Waverly said, her eyes dancing.

Nicole shrugged. “I might be.”

“I like the way you smell,” Waverly said impulsively, the words leaving her mouth quickly. “Your perfume is so lovely, I can smell it when you walk past me and it reminds me of the other night. When you were kissing me, I was thinking about how much I liked it.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows. She could swoon.

“Wow, remind me to try that one again. I’ll see you Monday, Waverly.”

Nicole turned from Waverly’s flustered expression and walked upstairs, unable to keep the smile from her face. The thought of those words would keep her going all weekend. When she reached her room, she looked at the perfume bottle sitting in its usual place on the dresser. Taking one of the shirts she’d already packed into her suitcase, she lightly sprayed it. Nicole walked across the hallway and snuck into Waverly’s room, placing the shirt under a pillow.

When she got into bed she stared at the ceiling for a long time. What if Waverly thought she were overstepping her bounds and being creepy? She was considering getting out of bed to take it back when she heard the creaking open of Waverly’s door.

Nicole squeezed her eyes shut tightly, cringing into the dark. After a couple of minutes her phone buzzed with a text message and she grabbed it from the nightstand.

It was a picture of Waverly wearing her shirt, grinning into the camera and looking too adorable for words.

Nicole typed her reply. _Looks cute on you. I_ _hope you don’t think that was weird?_

_Not at all. I thought it was super sweet. I’ll wear it every night._

Nicole sent back a smile emoji and put her phone down. It was tempting to keep texting, to lie here in the dark and enjoy the intimacy of it, but it would only make her feel more tempted to go to Waverly. It would be so lovely to go across and kiss Waverly goodnight, to fill herself up with the memory and take it with her.

Nicole closed her eyes and focused on the future, thinking about what they might do for their first date. It couldn’t come fast enough.

 

“Any news?” Nicole asked.

Steve shook his head. “Nothing to report. Another quiet weekend, although there was an incident during which Wynonna threatened to put a spout down my throat and make me drink whiskey. She’s such a wild card. She’s in the living room right now.”

Nicole laughed and touched his shoulder. “Thanks. I’ll see you Friday.”

Steve fished around in his pocket and handed her a set of keys. “Oh, can you put these back? They’re for the guest house, I forgot.”

“Sure thing.”

Nicole walked to the living room to check in. She found Henry and Wynonna laying in front of the television.

“Hey. You guys are up early.”

“Huh? No, we haven’t been to bed. We’re doing a marathon of all Quentin Tarantino’s movies, Henry’s doing number nine.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Nicole said, sliding the door shut behind her.

She deposited her bags upstairs then walked into the kitchen, planning to make coffee.

“Hey,” Waverly said shyly.

“Oh, hey Waverly,” she said, breathing out slowly. Nicole was so pleased and taken aback to see Waverly that she couldn’t resist making a little conversation with her. “You’re not joining those guys with the movie marathon?”

“No way. I don’t do anything beyond _Kill Bill_.”

“The second one I presume.”

“Of course! Hey. Do you want to…”

“Do I want to what?” Nicole asked.

“Nothing.”

“It’s okay, what is it?”

“I know I’m not supposed to ask. It’s a nice day, I was going to see if you wanted to have some coffee out by the pool with me. That’s what I was going to do.”

Nicole looked over her shoulder. It struck her as highly unlikely that Wynonna and Henry would move from their positions.

“You know what, it can’t hurt to just have coffee. Thank you for asking me.”

“Really? That would be so nice," Waverly replied.

Waverly’s eyes crinkled when she smiled, and Nicole’s heart kicked.

They filled their mugs with rich black coffee and walked out to the pool, sitting down in the deck chairs. Nicole closed her eyes, enjoying the sun shining down on them and the breeze blowing over the water.

“So, you know my sister. Do you have brothers and sisters?” Waverly asked.

“I have a big brother.”

“Oh, I always wanted a brother. Tell me about him.”

Nicole described him, charmed by the way Waverly peppered her with questions. Before long they were each laying back in their chairs, facing one another. Nicole finished her coffee and put the mug down next to her on the ground, knowing that she was nowhere near wanting to move.

“So, are you sure you’re not seeing anyone else? Not even like, a casual thing or anything?” Waverly asked abruptly.

“No, why would you think that?” Nicole asked, laughing at the thought.

“I don’t know, just checking. You’re quite the catch, you know.”

“Well thank you, but I would never keep anything like that from you. And what about you? Have you changed your mind about anything?” Nicole asked, trying for casual and breezy.

“Of course not,” Waverly said. She was staring raptly at Nicole. “I know I shouldn’t say this, but I’m so attracted to you.”

“You are?” Nicole asked, selfishly wanting to hear more.

Their eyes were locked. Nicole felt like Waverly was touching her, just with her eyes.

“Definitely,” Waverly said. “That night we were watching the movie I really wanted you to kiss me.”

“Oh, trust me I wanted to.”

“I wasn’t sure if you did. I was hoping so.”

“Can I ask you something…is this like, a new thing for you? I mean…”

“You being a woman? Yes and no. I was with Champ for a long time. Looking back, it was always there, I just hadn’t really thought about it. Maybe I was trying to not think about it. But I want to think about it now. With you. Does it bother you?”

“Not at all. I was wondering though, after Wynonna said you had a boyfriend.”

Nicole reached out her hand, edging it closer to Waverly. Waverly put her own hand out and they met in the middle, their fingers lightly touching.

“I just want you to understand that I don’t expect anything from you. We can take things as slow as you need,” Nicole continued.

Waverly smiled at her. “Okay.”

They lay still, gazing at one another. Nicole’s eyes shifted slowly down Waverly’s body, taking in her tanned smooth skin, her bare feet and pink toenail polish.

“Wynonna and Henry were really settled in there. They’ll fall asleep in front of their movie if they haven’t already,” Waverly said.

“I got that impression.”

“Soooooo…”

Nicole reached into her pocket. “I’ve got the keys to the guest house. You go in there first, I’ll follow in a sec?”

“Okay,” Waverly said, getting up quickly.

Nicole watched her go. This was crazy, but she wasn’t even going to entertain the notion of backing out now. Nicole waited a few beats, turning back to the main house. There were no signs of life, and she was confident that nobody would see her enter. She walked toward the house with her heart in her throat.

When she opened the door, Waverly was lying on the bed, propped up against the pillows. Without saying a word Nicole locked the door behind her, then went over to the portable gun safe and locked up her firearm. She slipped off her shoes and socks. Then she took off her jacket and laid it over the back of a chair. Nicole took her time with her preparations, enjoying the fact that Waverly was watching her.

At last she was ready. Nicole moved onto the bed, their eyes caught on one another’s. Waverly shifted toward her eagerly and in a moment, they were kissing, kneeling together and facing one another.

This time, they didn’t take any time to warm up to the task. It was long and deep, and Nicole’s body responded quickly. She put her hands to Waverly’s shoulders, drawing her close, and Waverly pressed against her.

“I’ve _really_ been wanting to kiss you again,” Waverly whispered.

“Me too. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Waverly kissed her, her lips moving against Nicole’s mouth so sweetly Nicole felt like she would explode from it. Nicole pulled back for a moment and ran her hand down Waverly’s neck, over her collarbone. Unlike the last time they’d kissed it was sunny and bright in the room, and she wanted to see everything. 

Nicole edged forward again and captured Waverly’s lips, gently darting her tongue into Waverly’s mouth. Waverly responded by placing her hands into Nicole’s hair, her fingers running through it.

They moved so that Nicole was lying on top of Waverly, loving the feel of Waverly’s arms around her neck. Waverly felt good underneath her, all softness and warmth. The kiss went on and on. It was so right, the two of them fitting together perfectly.

Nicole moved her hand down to Waverly’s waist, touching her there. Waverly arched into her when she did it and Nicole worked to untuck Waverly’s shirt. She slipped her hand under Waverly’s top, her hand brushing against the skin. Waverly kissed her even more passionately, her lips moving eagerly against Nicole’s mouth.

Their kisses began to feel messy and unfocussed, and each of them were breathing hard. They pushed against one another, their hips moving together in a rhythm.

Waverly’s hand was on Nicole’s hip and then it moved lower, grabbing her ass and pulling her near. Nicole slowly moved her hand up Waverly’s shirt, her fingers against the silky skin.

“Is this okay?” she asked.

“Please,” Waverly responded, and Nicole moved her hand higher. She heard Waverly’s sharp intake of breath when her fingers closed over Waverly’s breast, against the fabric of her bra. Waverly raised her head to keep kissing Nicole, leaning up into her and subtly pushing herself toward Nicole’s hand. Nicole softly touched Waverly’s full breasts again and again, in awe of how they felt under her fingers.

The voice in Nicole’s head was getting louder, the one that shouted at her and made her feel guilty and ashamed. It was so confusing. She wanted this so much, but she couldn’t avoid the fact that what she was doing was beyond irresponsible.

Nicole shifted back and watched as Waverly slowly opened her eyes.

“Waverly, we should stop. We shouldn’t…”

Waverly moved back and slid out from underneath her. She stood next to the bed, rearranging her skirt and top and patting her hair down where it had gotten messed up.

“Sorry,” Nicole said.

Waverly sighed and hesitated.

“Can you say something?” Nicole asked nervously.

“It’s just that, it’s not the nicest feeling for me that you keep saying that, right when we’re, you know. It makes me feel weird.”

“I know,” Nicole said softly, apologizing again.

“It was your idea to come in here. We shouldn’t have if you didn’t want to.”

“It’s _not_ that I don’t want to, believe me,” Nicole said. She scooted over to the side of the bed and sat, putting her hands to Waverly’s waist and resting her head against Waverly’s stomach.

Nicole could hear Waverly’s breathing becoming ragged as she pressed her lips to Waverly’s skin, kissing her lightly on her stomach. Nicole traced lines over Waverly’s abs, feeling the firm muscles under her fingers.

“This is really hard,” Nicole said. Waverly’s hands brushed through her hair.

“It’s okay. I’m feeling a little impatient, is all.”

Nicole looked up at Waverly, who leaned down and captured her lips in a fierce kiss. Nicole’s hands were on the small of Waverly’s back and then they reached downward, holding her. When they pulled apart, they were each breathless.

“You’re not the only one. And I don’t mean to be annoying,” Nicole said. “With all my worries. I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

“I know. If you didn’t care about the right thing, maybe I wouldn’t like you so much,” Waverly said, smiling crookedly. “Hey, I’ve got an idea.”

Nicole put her hands under Waverly’s thighs. Waverly understood what she wanted, moving so that she was straddling her on the edge of the bed.

“Tell me,” Nicole said. She kissed Waverly’s neck until Waverly sighed against her.

“If we can’t do this here, why don’t I come and see you on a weekend, when you’re not-when you’re not working?” Waverly said, fumbling her words as Nicole’s lips teased against her skin.

Nicole used her tongue to trail against Waverly’s neck and then she spoke softly in Waverly’s ear, relishing the way it made Waverly shudder.

“I think that’s a good idea. A very, very good idea,” Nicole said. “But what about Wynonna?”

“Don’t worry about her.”

“Okay, we can keep things professional here, and then I won’t have to worry because I’ll be off duty. It’s still not one hundred per cent on the up and up, but I think it could work. It’s better than what we’re doing now anyway.”

“Better than this?” Waverly joked.

Waverly was leaning into Nicole, her hips pressed tight against her waist.

Nicole put her fingers softly on Waverly’s thighs, under her skirt. Waverly took Nicole’s face in her hands and kissed her passionately, her tongue darting readily into Nicole’s mouth.

“Friday night, then. Come around to my place, I’ll cook?”

Waverly nodded, then moved forward for one last kiss. It was deep and hard, the two of them drawing it out, communicating their desire to one another. Slowly, Waverly slid away from Nicole and stood next to her, fixing herself up once more. As soon as she was gone Nicole wanted it again, and wished she’d waited at least a little bit longer to put the brakes on.

“I’m going to go and have a swim, I think. Cool off,” Waverly said, tongue-in-cheek.

“Okay. I’ll be out in a second. Can’t wait for Friday.”

“Me neither,” Waverly agreed.

Nicole watched her leave. Then she slowly set about putting on her shoes, jacket and gun, trying to think about anything but Waverly to cool her desire. Friday felt like an age away.


	8. Chapter Eight

The hours moved agonizingly slowly while Nicole waited for Friday night to come. In the meantime, she planned for the date, thinking about what she was going to wear (fairly casual) and what she was going to cook (simple and tasty).

Every time she saw Waverly they exchanged meaningful glances, secure in the knowledge that they were going to be alone together soon.

One morning when they were each coming out of their bedrooms at the same time, Waverly gestured for Nicole to go first. Nicole walked in front of Waverly, who promptly smacked her on the behind. Nicole jumped and laughed, then turned to shake her head.

The next time Nicole passed Waverly in the hallway, she reached out and slid her palm down Waverly’s bicep.

“Excuse me ma’am, I’m just wondering if you might tell me where you got this gun from?”

Waverly looked back at her with mock seriousness and flexed. Nicole raised her eyebrows to show that she was impressed and Waverly grinned.

From then on, they found an excuse to touch one another each time they had a moment to themselves. Nicole pretended Waverly had something in her hair. Waverly acted as though she were stumbling and grabbed Nicole around the waist for purchase. They each left the situations giggling uncontrollably, high on one another.

 

On Thursday afternoon Nicole went into the small space adjoining the dining room. When she’d moved into the house, Nicole turned it into a makeshift office for herself. There was a small table where she set up her laptop, and Waverly left the mail on it every day for her to go through.

Nicole pulled on gloves and methodically went through the envelopes. There had been nothing for weeks and she wasn’t expecting to find anything now. It took her a moment to recognize what she was looking at when she found a note with a threat on it.

_I’ll come for you again._

The words chilled her, and she froze for a moment before jumping out of her chair. She ran to find Wynonna, checking that she was staying inside for long enough that Nicole could get down to the police station.

“I think I might have a break. I’ve found a suspicious letter. I’m going to get them to run prints,” Nicole said. Waverly was sitting next to Wynonna on the sofa and their eyes locked, as Waverly looked hopefully back at her.

It would mean everything to have this case solved. They all wanted Wynonna to be safe and to know that she wouldn’t have to keep looking over her shoulder. It would also mean freedom of every kind, and Nicole didn’t feel too guilty about the fact that her first thought was what it would mean for her relationship with Waverly.

With Waverly’s lovely expression playing over in her mind, Nicole rushed to the station. When she spoke to an officer she stressed once more that the case was pertaining to Wynonna Earp. As much as the police pretended to be impartial, dropping Wynonna’s name would speed things along.

 

For once Nicole was happy to be leaving the Earp house on Friday morning. It was satisfying to finally have something useful to update Steve about, and she was bursting with the idea of having an evening alone with Waverly.

Nicole spent the day anxiously preparing. She bought groceries to cook with, cleaned her apartment, and took a long time over showering and shaving her legs. Nicole dressed in black jeans and the sexiest top she had in her wardrobe, finally applying some light makeup.

By the time Waverly arrived Nicole was a ball of nervous energy.

“Hey,” Nicole greeted her, stepping back to let Waverly walk inside. Waverly kissed her cheek hello, and Nicole breathed in the smell of her shampoo. Nicole wanted to turn her head and meet Waverly’s lips, but she figured that if they started that now they’d never get to dinner.

“You look beautiful,” Waverly said.

“You’re stunning,” Nicole replied. Waverly was wearing a skirt and floral top, and her hair was free. Waverly handed her a bottle of wine and looked around the apartment.

“I love your place.”

“Thank you,” Nicole said. “Let me show you around?”

As they walked around they touched one another, hands on shoulders or running lightly down arms. Nicole walked behind her, appreciating how Waverly looked in her skirt, how beautiful the curve of her hip was.

They sat down at Nicole’s small dining table to eat. At first Nicole could do nothing but watch Waverly with her hand propped on her chin.

“This is delicious Nicole,” Waverly said, as she bit into her quesadilla. She’d mentioned to Nicole at some point that she liked Mexican food and Nicole had filed it away. “What?”

“Nothing, I just can’t believe you’re here. Our first date,” Nicole said, finally picking up her own knife and fork.

“It’s not our first date.”

“It’s not?”

“No, our first date was the night we watched _All About Eve_ ,” Waverly said confidently.

A smile slowly spread across Nicole’s face. “Is that so?”

“What else did you think all that was about? I went to an awful lot of trouble.”

“You are the cutest. Anyway, tell me about how you’re doing with your essay?” Nicole asked.

They chatted over the meal, the conversation flowing easily between them. These last couple of weeks, when they’d had to limit their interactions, Nicole had missed Waverly’s animated voice. She loved how fun it was for them to talk. Waverly was genuinely curious about Nicole’s life and wanted to know all about her family, friends and career. While they spoke, they held hands across the table now and then, not having to hide anything at last.

They talked for a long time after they were done with the meal, then cleared the table together. When they moved to the kitchen Nicole placed her hand on Waverly’s waist as she leaned up to put a glass away. Waverly turned toward her, leaning in to pull her down. When their lips met Nicole wondered how she’d lasted this long.

 Their lips brushed softly together as they breathed one another in, and they stopped to look at one another for a moment. Nicole felt so much that she wasn’t sure how to contain it; nerves and happiness and anticipation. Though they had only just started Nicole was sure that there was something special going on between them; a connection so quick and true that it amazed her. When Waverly looked at her like this Nicole was sure that she felt the same.

They came together again, kissing, and Nicole put her hands under Waverly’s thighs to lift her onto the countertop. Waverly laughed against her, but it was serious between them soon enough as their lips moved in a perfect rhythm. Nicole moved against Waverly hard now, their mouths joining in a sweet roughness.

Nicole tasted Waverly’s lips, lingering over their softness. She loved how intensely Waverly kissed her; it assured her that Waverly wanted this just as much. Nicole wasn’t sure that she’d ever felt this much just from kissing someone. The thought of taking it further lit a fire inside of her, and made her weak at the knees.

Nicole moaned quietly when Waverly’s palms brushed over her chest, gently touching her breasts.

They drew apart breathlessly.

“Waves, should we go to my room?”

Waverly looked back at her, eyebrows slightly raised in a question, and Nicole understood. She brushed Waverly’s hair back from her face.

“I don’t mean that. I know it’s too soon,” Nicole said, placing a kiss on Waverly’s forehead. “Just for this.”

Waverly nodded, and Nicole led her by the hand to her room, her heart racing. They were barely inside when Waverly grabbed her again to kiss her. Nicole’s took Waverly around the waist with her hands. They moved toward the bed as they kissed, falling onto it together.

Nicole moved on top of Waverly as their mouths joined again and again, their tongues meeting. Nicole felt Waverly’s legs wrap around her as they ground against each other. Nicole leaned down to press her lips to Waverly’s neck and she felt Waverly’s sharp exhalation against her ear when she used her tongue.

They rocked their hips against one another, trying desperately to get still closer. Nicole trailed her tongue over Waverly’s skin, gently taking Waverly’s ear lobe in her teeth, hearing Waverly say her name.

Waverly pulled Nicole back up to kiss her and then her palms were flat against Nicole’s back, pushing up slowly under her shirt. Nicole shivered at the feeling of Waverly’s hands trailing over her back, and against the sensitive skin on her sides.

“That feels so good,” Nicole whispered.

“Can you take it off?” Waverly asked, and Nicole pulled back to look into Waverly’s eyes.

“Okay. Do you want to, too?”

Waverly nodded and Nicole shifted back slightly, slowly unbuttoning Waverly’s shirt, kissing her all the while. Nicole looked down as she opened the shirt, her eyes hungrily exploring Waverly’s body as it was revealed to her. Nicole ran her fingers over Waverly’s stomach, feeling the taut muscles and soft skin under her hands.

“You are so lovely,” Nicole said.

“Thanks, but…” Waverly said, nodding toward her impatiently. Nicole pulled her own shirt over her head.

Their eyes met before Waverly’s gaze moved downward. Nicole had never been particularly self-conscious, yet she found herself nervously searching Waverly’s face to see her reaction. Nicole knew within seconds that there was no reason to worry, because Waverly’s eyes were fixed to her body in a way that left no doubt she liked what she saw.

Waverly reached up and touched her breast over her bra, a finger running over Nicole’s hard nipple through the fabric. Nicole leaned into it, closing her eyes.

Waverly brought Nicole down to her again, one arm possessively wrapped around Nicole’s neck, so that they could kiss again. The friction between them kept growing as they strained against one another. Nicole’s thigh was between Waverly’s legs and Waverly kept moving into her in the most delicious way.

Nicole wanted so much to undo Waverly’s bra, to finally see her fully, but she was just as content to just keep making out with her like this. There was something so wonderful about the anticipation and about taking their time. If Waverly wanted her to, Nicole could kiss her all night.

As they kissed Waverly’s hand stayed on her breast, her palm pushing into Nicole lightly, her fingers stroking the exposed skin above the cup of her bra. Nicole’s hand was playing over Waverly’s stomach, sometimes sliding upward to Waverly’s breast.

Nicole felt Waverly reaching for the back of her bra, opening the clasp. They broke off their kiss and Nicole helped Waverly slide the bra from her body, throwing it from the side of the bed. Again, Nicole watched Waverly’s reaction, seeing Waverly’s eyes widen subtly as she looked at her exposed chest.

Waverly’s eyes flicked up to Nicole’s and then she reached forward, running her fingers over Nicole’s breasts, touching her so sweetly that Nicole closed her eyes. When she opened them, Waverly was leaning up, moving toward her breast. Nicole’s mouth fell open in pleasure when the soft pad of Waverly’s tongue licked along her skin, flicking over her nipple.

Nicole’s rested her hand on the back of Waverly’s head, gently encouraging her. She hadn’t expected any of this to happen tonight, and she couldn’t quite believe it. She couldn’t believe how good it felt. Waverly kissed and licked her, her warm wet mouth driving Nicole crazy.

Waverly moved up to kiss her lips again. Finally, Nicole’s need to touch Waverly became overwhelming and she helped Waverly sit up so that she could push her shirt off her shoulders and undo Waverly’s bra. Waverly lay back and Nicole could not help but stare, until Waverly laughed.

“Nicole, what are you doing?”

“Just looking at you,” Nicole said softly.

Everything about Waverly drove her crazy. Waverly’s skin was so tan and smooth, her breasts were round and full, and her athletic body was somehow the perfect mix of strength and softness. What really got to Nicole though, was Waverly’s eyes. The look in them was nervous but full of trust. In the days following, Nicole would come back to this moment as often as she could, daydreaming about it.

Nicole leaned in and they kissed intensely, reveling the sensual feeling of their bare skin touching. Their breasts brushed together, the friction unbelievably satisfying. Nicole kissed her way down Waverly’s neck and trailed a line with her tongue down Waverly’s torso. She took a nipple in her mouth while Waverly said her name.

They were lost for hours, exploring each other’s bodies. For Nicole there was a never-ending hum of pleasure, a feeling like she was being ceaselessly pulled back from the edge. There was a heavy sweet throb between her legs, and she felt like it would take the barest touch to make her come. Yet she couldn’t be anything other than content and thrilled with what she had.

Occasionally they talked softly, saying phrases to communicate pleasure, or to beg the other to keep doing this or that.

Following a moan, Waverly looked up at her. “Nicole…do you want to?”

Nicole brushed her hair back from her face. “Of course, I do. But, do you think we’re ready for that?”

Waverly bit her lip, considering. “No. I guess not.”

Nicole smiled broadly at her. “Then let’s not rush it. We’ve got time.”

“I know. You’re right.”

Nicole moved back and leaned on her elbow, tracing her fingers over Waverly’s naked chest. She watched Waverly’s shiver in response.

“It’s kind of nice to wait,” Nicole said. “I can think about all the things I want to do with you.”

 “Well, I’ve been doing that already.”

“Have you, really?”

“Haven’t you, too?”

“Of course. When did you start thinking of me that way?”

Waverly shrugged. “As soon as I met you. Since that day at the coffee shop. You _were_ flirting with me that day, weren’t you?”

A thrill went through Nicole, to know that Waverly had reacted to their first meeting the same way that she had.

“Guilty as charged. Can we do this again next weekend?” Nicole asked. “Have dinner here, or we could go out? Whatever you want.”

“Absolutely,” Waverly said, yawning and covering her mouth. “What time is it anyway?”

Nicole looked over at the clock on the nightstand. “Two in the morning.”

“Jesus!” Waverly said, sitting up. “I should go. I should get some sleep.”

Nicole threw her own top on while Waverly searched the room for her bra and shirt. Nicole observed her covering herself up with regret, wishing that she were brave enough to ask Waverly to stay over. She pulled on her own shirt.

It was unnerving that it was this hard to watch Waverly getting ready to leave. There was no reason to worry; Waverly seemed as into this as she was. They’d just shared the hottest night of making out that Nicole had ever had. Yet Nicole preached caution to herself. This was all moving so fast, and she was in too deep for where they were. She resolved that she would try to be more patient, to not get ahead of herself.

Waverly being Waverly, it was easier said than done. Waverly flew back onto the bed and enveloped her in a tight hug, burrowing into her.

“Thanks for dinner. Thanks for everything. What a perfect night,” Waverly said, kissing her on the cheek.

They shared one last searing kiss by the door and then Waverly was gone.

Nicole took off her clothes and lay down in her bed, replaying the night’s events, smiling dreamily. It had all been so much better than she could have hoped. There really was something special about the chemistry between them, and she was sure that it wasn’t just in her head. This was what she’d been looking for, and how she’d always imagined things could be if only she could find someone she was really in tune with.

Nicole’s phone buzzed on the nightstand and she picked it up, pleased that Waverly was letting her know that she was home safe.

Nicole grinned when she read the text.

_Or, we could just hang out tomorrow?_


	9. Chapter 9

They met for dinner in a far-away neighborhood. Waverly texted Nicole the address of a restaurant that she liked, and Nicole walked on air as she approached it. Waverly was standing outside in her high-waisted jeans, looking down at her phone with a cutely furrowed brow.

When she glanced up and saw Nicole standing there, Waverly’s smile was like the sun. Throwing caution to the wind, Nicole hugged her hello, drawing Waverly’s body close against her own.

Nicole’s skin tingled under the touch of soft lips when Waverly kissed her hello. They rested their foreheads against one another’s.

“I was so glad when you texted,” Nicole said.  

“I figure we only have a couple of days to hang out, we should make the most of it.”

“Hopefully that won’t be the case for too much longer,” Nicole replied, holding the door open.

They ordered a collection of small plates and grazed, talking a mile a minute. When Nicole was at the Earp mansion there was so much silence between them and now the words burst out, unstoppable. They talked about where they wanted to travel, about what school had been like for each of them, and discussed their different experiences of moving to the city. Nicole adored how enthusiastic Waverly was about everything, the way in which she could make everything fun and exciting.

“What’s going to happen after you’re finished with this job, anyway?” Waverly asked, abruptly changing the subject.

Nicole shrugged. “Honestly, I never know. Reggie offers me assignments as they come up. I might get to have some input, but mainly it’s his decision.”

Waverly looked back at her, her smile tinged with sadness.

“Hey, what’s up?” Nicole asked, touching Waverly’s leg under the table.

 “I just keep thinking, like, of course I want them to catch this guy but then you’ll be gone. Will you be living with someone else for weeks like you were with us? Will I get to see you, after?”

 “I’ll make sure of it. I could do what Steve’s doing, and take weekend shifts. I can definitely swing a couple of weeks off when this is wrapped up anyway.”

Waverly’s expression brightened. “So could I! Wynonna wouldn’t care if I took some time off. We could spend some time together.”

“That sounds amazing. Maybe we could even go away somewhere for a weekend? If you wanted to.”

Waverly reached across the table, taking Nicole’s hand and leaning forward. “I would love to do that.”

“I don’t mean to be a buzz kill but the only thing is, can you not tell Wynonna for a little longer that we’re dating? Like, could you tell her you were going away with a friend or something?”

“Why?”

“It just still might look bad for me. I don’t know, sorry. I just ruined the moment, didn’t I?”

Waverly held up a couple of fingers, measuring it out. “Little bit.”

Nicole laughed. “Let’s go back to talking about the good stuff. I promise to not bring it up for the rest of the night. Where would we go?”

They debated the merits of various locations for the next half an hour, and Nicole couldn’t stop laughing as they bantered. The thought of spending uninterrupted time alone with Waverly made her feel giddy. They would cook, talk and kiss, and never have to deal with any stress. It was her idea of heaven.

When they walked out of the restaurant Nicole put her hand to the small of Waverly’s back, enjoying being able to touch her.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Nicole said.

“Sure,” Waverly agreed.

They held hands while they walked to the jeep. They turned to one another when they got there, Waverly slipping a hand behind her neck. Nicole leaned down toward her and they smiled at one another as they drew closer.

“What are you doing now, did you want to come over?” Nicole asked her, lightheaded from kissing.

“Yep.”

Saturday night mirrored Friday, and it was perfect. They lay together talking and touching until the early hours. Nicole was drowning in the sensation of Waverly’s skin against hers, addicted to the feeling of her soft mouth everywhere. Nicole found herself waiting for some of the magic to wear away with familiarity. At some point, surely, she would stop being shocked at how wonderful it all was. Yet it only got better with time.

 She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten so lucky, but she never wanted it to end.

 

On Monday she returned to the Earp mansion, physically tired but exhilarated from spending so much time with Waverly. Their time together over the weekend had cemented the connection between them, and they had plans to spend the next weekend together too. It would be another long week, but who cared when Nicole knew what was going to be waiting for her at the end of it?

After lunch Nicole made one of her routine calls to the police to see if they’d run the prints yet.

“Oh, for the Earp case? Yes, we did that. Actually, we think we’ve got a match,” the officer said.

Nicole sat up straight in her chair. “You do?”

“Yep. I can send someone by with some shots to show to her to see if she can ID the guy, is she going to be there this afternoon?”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Nicole said.

Wynonna was in the living room, lounging on the sofa with her legs over Henry. Nicole told her the news, her words coming out in a rush.

“Do I have to do it this afternoon? Henry’s leaving tomorrow for New York. We need to spend some time together.”

Nicole stared at her. “Really? You don’t think this is urgent?”

Wynonna rolled her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for so long, what’s another day?”

It was time to bring out the big guns and enlist Waverly’s help, seeing as she was the only one who could talk sense into her sister. Nicole found Waverly in her study, hunched over the desk. Nicole knocked on the wall and Waverly turned, smiling at her. For a moment they stood with their eyes locked. Over dinner Waverly had confessed that she was burying herself in her course, getting as much done as possible so that she would be free to hang out when the case was solved.

“Hey,” Nicole said. “The police think they’ve found a match for the prints. They want to come around and show Wynonna some shots of the guy, you too I assume seeing as you were there.”

“Really? That’s amazing! When are they coming?”

“Well, that’s the thing. Wynonna doesn’t want them to come today. She says she needs to spend some time with Henry.”

Waverly raised her eyebrows. “Oh, for Pete’s sake. Tell them to come as soon as they can. I’ll deal with her.”

 

Nicole walked the officers to the door, working to turn down the intensity of her smile, aware that she must look like a weirdo to them. Wynonna and Waverly were both positive that the man in the mugshots was the guy who tried to attack them with the knife. The officers talked with Wynonna about the process of applying for a restraining order. They assured her that now that they knew who he was, it was only a matter of time before they would catch him.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Nicole kept herself busy. She updated Reggie and patrolled endlessly around the yard, thinking about what the future might hold. It was strange to notice that time was slowed down now. Though they were closer than ever to a resolution, the wait was more difficult than it had ever been. Nicole counselled herself to be patient. As she’d told Waverly, they would have plenty of time.

That night she’d been in bed for moments when a knock sounded at the door. Nicole sat up quickly.

“Yes?”

The door opened and Waverly appeared, illuminated from the back by the hall light. Nicole couldn’t see her face properly, but she could imagine Waverly’s cheeky grin as she held up a bottle of champagne. In her other hand were two glasses. Nicole leaned over and turned her lamp on.

“Waverly,” Nicole said sternly, though there was a hint of amusement in her tone. Nicole didn’t have the heart to turn Waverly away, she was just making a show of it. They both knew it.

“It’s almost done. I think this calls for a celebration, don’t you think?”

“I think you should come on in.”

Not for the first time, Nicole was glad that Wynonna had her own wing. There was always a risk, but she was confident they wouldn’t get caught now, not when Wynonna was so wrapped up in Henry.

Waverly closed the door and placed the bottle and glasses on the nightstand. Nicole watched her, stretching languidly, her toes curling in anticipation. She propped herself up against the pillows, sitting against the headboard to observe while Waverly poured them each a glass.

“Is that already open? I know I’m just the help, but I hope you’re not serving me leftovers.”

Waverly shook her head, smiling at her. “I popped it down in the kitchen, just in case.”

Nicole used her finger to beckon Waverly closer and in a moment Waverly was straddling her. Waverly leaned down to kiss her neck and Nicole moaned softly. Waverly had quickly discovered how much she liked it, and had been taking full advantage of the fact. Nicole gently dug her fingers into Waverly’s waist.

Waverly pressed her lips to Nicole’s cheek, and finally they found one another’s mouths. Waverly was holding her face in her hands, kissing her mouth softly and gently, sometimes using her tongue. Nicole smiled against Waverly’s mouth, thinking about the fact that Waverly really was an excellent kisser. Nicole grabbed a fistful of Waverly’s top, and kissed her back.

“These are cute,” Nicole said, tugging on Waverly’s shirt again. The silk shorts and top had brightly colored owls on them.

Waverly leaned over and reached for their drinks, handing Nicole one. Clinking their glasses together, Waverly proposed a toast.

“Here’s to us, and our superhuman forbearance.”

“I don’t know about that,” Nicole said. “I’m going nuts. Aren’t you?”

“What do you think?”

They sipped champagne between kisses, until Nicole began to find it too distracting and put her glass down. Waverly did the same.

“Not that I don’t love it, but I feel super Hollywood drinking that champagne in bed.”

“I was going to get cocaine, but I figured champagne would do just as well,” Waverly joked.

Nicole giggled and leaned forward to kiss Waverly again, loving the way Waverly arched forward and into her. She was beyond caring how much they weren’t supposed to be doing this. A week ago, this would have made her heart pound with anxiety, but being so close to the end of her role here it hardly felt like it mattered.

Nicole’s hands were on Waverly’s back, holding her, but now she slipped them around to the front of Waverly’s body and touched her breasts over her top. At first, she palmed them softly, but when Waverly sighed she cupped them harder with her hands. Waverly kissed her more urgently, her tongue skimming against Nicole’s.

Nicole pulled away breathlessly, opening the buttons on Waverly’s top and pushing it away. She lightly ran her hands over Waverly’s chest, brushing the undersides of Waverly’s breasts and watching Waverly’s body respond to her touch.

“You are so beautiful,” Nicole said reverently, and Waverly moved toward her again. As they kissed Nicole caressed her, feeling Waverly’s hands in her hair. Waverly leaned back and pulled Nicole’s shirt over her head, looking appreciatively at Nicole’s body.

Nicole shifted to Waverly’s neck, pressing her lips to the sensitive skin.

 “Nicole, I was thinking. When we go away, do you think…”

Hearing Waverly’s hesitation, Nicole pulled back and looked into Waverly’s eyes.

“What’s up?” she said, tenderly brushing Waverly’s hair back from her face.

 “Do you think we could take the next step then?”

Nicole smiled, though there was a lump in her throat. “Whenever you’re ready. There’s no pressure, at all. That’s not why I suggested it. I was going to suggest getting separate rooms if you were more comfortable with that.”

“I wouldn’t want to sleep apart from you. I don’t feel pressured. I want to.”

Nicole stared at her for another beat, letting the words wash over her.

“Then of course. I want the same thing,” Nicole said, swallowing hard. It was overwhelming having Waverly’s body close to her right now, knowing that soon there would be no barriers between them.

“I like the idea of waiting until this is all done, when there’s nothing hanging over our heads,” Waverly said.

“Sounds perfect to me.”

They kissed hungrily, and Nicole was so elated by the promise between them that she felt like she might burst from it. Waverly’s hand was on her skin, rubbing circles on her waist.

When they broke apart, they grinned at one another.

 “Well now I really feel like celebrating,” Nicole said. She reached over and grabbed the champagne bottle, taking a sip directly out of it.

“You know what would be _really_ Hollywood?” Nicole gestured with the bottle, tilting it toward Waverly’s body and raising her eyebrows while she laughed.

“Go on. I dare you,” Waverly said.

Nicole stopped laughing when she noticed the way Waverly moved her hips forward, and the quickness of her breath.

Nicole poured some of the champagne over Waverly’s breasts and then licked it off her skin, lapping at her. When Waverly moaned, Nicole poured more over her and then put the bottle down, sucking Waverly’s nipple and gently grazing her teeth against it. Waverly’s hips rocked against her as she tried to get closer.

Nicole licked and kissed her neck again, pushing her hair out of the way, taking pleasure in the way Waverly responded to her. Nicole cupped Waverly’s breast in her hand, running her thumb over Waverly’s nipple.

“Jesus,” Waverly said into her ear, and Nicole shivered. “I can’t wait to be with you.”

“You’re not the only one,” Nicole said. Her hips were straining against Waverly and she swirled her tongue against Waverly’s breasts, tasting her skin. Nicole grasped Waverly’s ass and they moved together.

Nicole rolled Waverly onto her back, placing kisses along her neck. She moved her lips against Waverly’s cheek and gazed down at her. Waverly was looking up at her, eyes glazed with desire. Nicole feathered her touch over Waverly’s breasts and stomach, making Waverly shudder under her hand.

“I love the way you touch me,” Waverly said, grabbing the back of Nicole’s neck and kissing her hard. “But you’d better stop, or I don’t know if I can.”

Nicole nodded, sighing. “I know just what you mean. Maybe I could hold you for a little while?”

“That sounds nice,” Waverly agreed, rolling onto her side. Nicole edged up close to her, running her fingers over Waverly’s arm. Waverly settled in against her, grabbing her hand, and Nicole closed her eyes. Waverly shifted back, her behind firm against Nicole’s crotch. Nicole put a hand on Waverly’s waist, acutely aware of the sensation of Waverly pushing into her.

“Waverly…are you doing that on purpose?”

Waverly laughed softly. “Maybe. Sorry.”

“I think I’ll be okay,” Nicole said sarcastically.

Nicole reached up and took Waverly’s breast in her hand, and gently moved against Waverly, who shifted still closer toward her. Nicole grazed her teeth against Waverly’s shoulder, and Waverly reached behind her, pulling Nicole into her. Waverly turned her head so that their lips could meet, Nicole cupping Waverly’s jaw with her hand.

At last they ceased, and they lay still and close.

“Waves?” Nicole said. “I want to say…I like being with you. I don’t just mean like this. I like spending time with you. I think you’re special.”

Waverly lifted Nicole’s hand and pressed it to her lips. “I feel the same. I’m so glad I met you.”

“Sometimes I worry this is going too fast. I don’t want to scare you off,” Nicole said. Lying in the darkness, with Waverly in her arms, made her feel like she could say anything.

“Please don’t worry. You do scare me, but you make me feel safe too. It’s the strangest feeling.”

“Is it a good feeling?” Nicole asked, brushing her hand through Waverly’s hair and kissing the side of her face.

“It’s the best feeling. Though I _am_ getting a little tired of waiting for you to ask me to be your girlfriend,” Waverly said.

“Hey! I know you’re joking, but _you_ can ask _me_ you know.”

Waverly rolled onto her back, touching Nicole’s cheek with her palm. “What do you think? Can we make it official?”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Nicole leaned down, pouring everything into the kiss, all the words she couldn’t say.

After a few minutes they turned, and Waverly snuggled back into Nicole. Nicole was grinning like a fool. She had promised herself that she would wait until they went away to initiate a conversation about their future, but she was so happy that Waverly was ahead of her.

“I’m just going to stay here for a little while longer,” Waverly said.

They fell asleep in one another’s arms. When her alarm went off Nicole woke to find that she was lying on her back, with Waverly curled up on her chest.

Groggily, Nicole reached out and grabbed her phone, while Waverly stirred and snuggled into her.

“Wave,” she whispered. “I have to get up.”

“I’m going back to bed,” Waverly mumbled.

Waves kissed her, with only one eye open. Nicole brushed back her hair with a hand.

“You do that,” Nicole said softly.

It comforted her that soon there would be no need to part.


	10. Chapter 10

Nicole made a light breakfast and then went for a run, joy coursing through her as she jogged along the tree-lined streets. She and Waverly were together; they were a _thing_. In the not-too-distant future all this stress was going to be behind them, and they would be a normal couple. A very happy one, if the last week was any indication.

Nicole wondered if it was the intensity of their situation that made her feel the way she did, but she was also used to listening to her intuition. From day one her gut had been telling her that Waverly was special, and that their connection couldn’t be denied. Nicole couldn’t wait to explore it fully.

Nicole ran back toward the house, and saw Henry’s car idling in the drive. He and Wynonna were practically dry humping next to it.

“All the best, Henry,” Nicole said as she passed, reluctantly shaking the hand that was offered to her.

“Lord knows where that hand has been,” she muttered under her breath.

After showering Nicole settled down in her office. As she scrolled through her email, she saw that Reggie had gotten his hands on the stalker’s record. Reggie had a lot of friends in the department and was often able to get things under the table. Nicole scanned it, seeing that the guy had been charged with a few violent offences in the past.

While Nicole was reading, she became aware of voices outside. There were sliding doors in the living room that opened out toward the dining room, and it was the sort of place where noise carried. The office door was also open, but Wynonna and Waverly wouldn’t be able to see it from where they were sitting.

“So, have you banged her yet, or what?” Wynonna said.

Nicole sat up straighter, wondering if she should let them know she was in here, but something stopped her. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, a sense like she was falling. Waverly’s voice was so low that Nicole strained to hear her words.

 “What if it’s a disappointment? You’ve got to find these things out sooner rather than later.”

“Shut up!” Waverly replied, her voice rising.

Wynonna cackled. “Look at your face. You are so sprung. Henry says he could cut the sexual tension between you two with a knife, to which I say, gross.”

“You’re gross. I’m sorry for you that Henry’s gone but now I don’t have to see you two mounting one another for a while. Come on, I’ll make you some coffee.”

The sisters laughed together, their voices receding as they walked away.

Nicole’s face grew hot and red. She searched her mind for some other explanation, for a way to make their conversation make sense in any other context. It was impossible. They couldn’t be talking about anything or anyone but her.

She was frozen inside, her blood cold. How many lies had Waverly told her throughout the last couple of weeks? Nicole forced herself to go about her business, reading through the rest of the charge sheet, but she couldn’t bring her mind back to the task. If she thought for a minute that she could get away with it she’d walk out on this job right now and never look back.

Nicole calculated the risk and knew that it wasn’t worth it. The job was almost done, and she had to see it through. Even if it was for entirely different reasons than the ones that had been motivating her lately.

Nicole snuck out of the room and passed by the kitchen quietly. She went up to her room and got onto her bed, her blood rushing in her ears. For a while she lay and went through all her recent conversations with Waverly, searching for clues that Waverly was hiding something. There was nothing there; it always felt like they were very much on the same page. Yet now she found that Waverly didn’t care about what mattered to her.

 A knock sounded on her door and Nicole jumped from the bed.

“What’s up?” Nicole asked.

“Hey. Wynonna and I are going to go for a swim. That okay?”

“Of course,” Nicole replied. “I’ll be right down.”

Waverly smiled at her, but her eyebrows drew together. She put a hand to the side of Nicole’s face.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Nicole tried to smile. “Just a little bit tired.”

“I’m sorry, that’s my fault, isn’t it?” Waverly said, with an edge of suggestiveness in her tone. “I promise I’ll let you get some rest tonight.”

“I’ll be down in a second,” Nicole replied, pulling away from Waverly’s touch.

 

Nicole tensely stood back from the pool. Wynonna and Waverly were screwing around, wrestling and pushing one another under the water. Watching them would have made Nicole smile not so long ago, but now she found it tiresome. Only rich people had the time and resources to behave the way Wynonna and Waverly did. They were always playing around like this, when they weren’t drinking in the middle of the day. In all the time she’d been here, Nicole had never seen Wynonna do a lick of work. Waverly was more industrious, but she could still do this sort of thing whenever she wanted.

Nicole noticed that Waverly was trying to catch her eye, but she avoided looking back at her.

Wynonna rose from the water and stretched.

“Well, that’s enough for one day. I’m going to take a sleeping pill and go back to bed. Henry and I didn’t get any shut eye at all.”

“Ugh, spare me, I don’t need to think about why,” Waverly said.

When Waverly pulled herself out of the pool Nicole looked away from her wet skin, uncomfortable at how quickly her anger fell away as her desire flared.

“Maybe you should go to bed too,” Wynonna muttered.

Nicole glared at her, but she didn’t notice.

When Wynonna and Waverly were back inside, Nicole grabbed her cell and walked out to the lawn with it. Pacing around, she called the police to check if there was any news. An officer told her that they were checking out a few tips on the guy’s location, and that it looked promising.

Nicole walked listlessly around the pool and wished that there was something more for her to do. If Wynonna was going to sleep all day, it was pointless to even be here.

Nicole gritted her teeth and went back inside. She walked up to her room and put her gun away, then made her bed and started folding some of her clothes and packing them. There were no guarantees, but it made her feel good to at least act like she was going to be out of here soon.

When there was nothing left to do Nicole lay down and picked up a novel from the nightstand. She read the same paragraph twice before she drifted off.

 

Nicole started, then picked up her phone to see that an hour had passed. She washed her face, trying to wake herself up. As she strode into the hallway, she bumped into Waverly and jumped.

“Shit,” Nicole said.

“Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. I went to the market and got some things, I was thinking I could make us both a late lunch?”

“Oh. Thanks, but don’t worry about it, I’ll get something myself later,” Nicole said flatly.

Waverly looked up at her. Why did the look of uncertainty on her face make Nicole feel so bad? Why should Nicole care about hurting her, after what she’d done?

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine,” Nicole said.

Waverly took her hand, talking quietly. “Hey, I’m sorry, I guess I thought we’d relaxed the rules a bit. I didn’t think it would matter if we ate together while Wynonna was sleeping. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Nicole shook her head, helpless. She wanted to confront Waverly, to tell her that she knew about the betrayal of confidence. It went against her grain not to, yet it was way too risky. Waverly would only tell Wynonna, and that would expose Nicole and her job to more risk. They had all the power and she had nothing. She just needed to get out of here.

Nicole forced a shaky smile. “It’s not that, I just don’t feel well.”

Waverly put a hand to her forehead. “Oh, that’s no good. Can I get you something?”

Nicole closed her eyes. She wanted to believe in this Waverly, the one who was so sweet and considerate. “No, it’s okay. Maybe I should call Reggie and get someone to fill in for me, so I can go home.”

“Can I do anything at all? I could call someone for you?”

Nicole considered it. If she went home now, she’d have to come back unless she feigned the flu or something. It would be an awful lot of work, and even if they didn’t catch the guy by the weekend, it was only a couple more days. It would be easier to avoid Waverly when she left on Friday; she could make something up about having to go and see her family while she worked out how she was going to handle all this.

 “No, actually don’t worry. It’s not that bad. I’ll just rest for a while. Can you please wake me when Wynonna’s up, though?”

“Of course. Now, come on,” Waverly said, marching her back into the room. “Lie down.”

Waverly was gone for a moment and then she returned with a glass of water, putting it on the night stand. Waverly sat on the bed beside her, leaning down and softly kissing Nicole’s forehead. She placed an arm over Nicole’s waist.

“You’ve been working so hard for us,” Waverly said. She ran her fingers through Nicole’s hair.

Nicole put her hand over Waverly’s wrist. It was so confusing, but having Waverly this close to her just made her want to pull Waverly down to her, to kiss and hold her until she forgot about everything.

“You promise that if you’re still sick later you’ll go home? You don’t have to push yourself. I’ll drive you home. Whatever you need.”

“Okay. I promise,” Nicole said.

Waverly kissed her once more, drawing back and looking at her with concern. Then she was gone, quietly closing the door behind her.

Nicole rolled over onto her side and grabbed a pillow, hugging on to it as she finally let the tears come.

 

Nicole hid in her room for hours, waiting for a knock on the door that never came. Wynonna must have really knocked herself out. Finally, Nicole grew so hungry that she couldn’t ignore it anymore and crept down to the kitchen to get something to eat. Poking through the fridge, she found a tub of yoghurt and finished it quickly. The empty container almost slipped from her fingers at the sound of Waverly’s voice.

Nicole turned and froze. Waverly was wearing a tank top and brief satin bed shorts, only partially covered up by her open robe. Wet hair fell over her shoulders, clinging to her skin.

“How are you feeling?” Waverly asked, moving to step toward her and then staying in place, shifting back and forth between her feet.

“Oh…fine. Much better. I must have just needed to sleep,” Nicole said. For a moment, distracted by Waverly looking so delicious, she’d forgotten about the lie. “Wynonna still in bed?”

“Yep, she’d been out all day. She won’t be up until tomorrow morning I guess,” Waverly said meaningfully. Her gaze was everywhere, and Nicole followed it. She couldn’t suppress the thrill of knowing that Waverly was looking at her breasts, her thighs, and her bare arms.

“Okay well. I’m going to do a check then go to bed I guess,” Nicole said.

Waverly’s eyes narrowed as she searched Nicole’s face.

“You still feel sick?” she asked softly.

Nicole couldn’t meet her eye and she shrugged, turning around to look in the fridge again. She felt Waverly coming closer.

“Nicole? Is something wrong?”

“What do you mean, you already know I’m sick,” Nicole muttered. She’d never been a good liar.

“I know. But…Nicole, can you just look at me for a second?”

Nicole turned back around. She needed Waverly to leave her alone, to let her process all of this. Having her so close meant that Nicole was never going to be able to think clearly.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just need some space,” Nicole said, pushing the fridge door closed behind her harder than she meant to. Nicole twisted inside with guilt at the look on Waverly’s face.

“After last night I thought…” Waverly said.

Nicole clenched her jaw, looking off to the side. She’d had her own thoughts and dreams after the night before. She’d woken up this morning so happy.

Nicole took a deep breath. No matter what Waverly had done, and no matter what the consequences might be for her in saying something, she couldn’t be this unfair.

“I overheard you this morning, talking to Wynonna. About us.”

“Oh,” Waverly said. She looked down, fiddling with the belt of her robe and crossing her arms over herself.

“How long has she known?”

“I don’t think it’s how you think it is,” Waverly said. “Can you give me a chance to explain?”

“I’m listening,” Nicole said, looking back over her shoulder. She thought she’d heard a noise.

“Come on,” Waverly said. “Come upstairs, if you’re worried.”

Nicole shook her head. It was neutral ground down here, and she knew what might happen if they went into one of their bedrooms. “Let’s go into the living room.”

They moved, and Nicole slid the door shut behind them.

“Okay, well. I don’t know what you think you heard. Henry said something to Wynonna about us, and she’s been needling me about it ever since. I’ve just always tried to change the subject. I don’t think _she_ even thinks it’s true.”

“You weren’t exactly denying it though,” Nicole said, her tone softening slightly. At least it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought at first.

“I know my sister. I know she’ll just keep at it until she gets bored. And besides, I don’t really _want_ to deny it. I know that’s hard for you to hear, but please try to understand…she’s my sister. She’s the closest person in the world to me. If I deny it now it’ll only make it that much harder for me when I do tell her.”

“I know how close you are.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve handled it all the best way I can,” Waverly said helplessly. “I don’t know what else to say. I trust her. I know you’ve got no reason to, but there it is.”

They stared at one another, locked in a stalemate. Nicole moved to sit on the sofa, staring off into space.

Her phone buzzed from her back pocket and Nicole dug it out.

“I should get this,” she said.

Waverly nodded.

 “This is Detective Rodham. You’re working with the Earp family?”

“That’s correct,” Nicole replied.

“I wanted to tell you the suspect is in custody. We picked him up a few hours ago, he’s being processed now.”

“Oh…thank you.”

They spoke for a few more minutes before Nicole signed off. As she spoke she averted her eyes from Waverly, focusing on her hands. She felt numb, unable to take in the information. This was supposed to be such a happy moment.

“They got him?” Waverly said, when Nicole was done.

“How’s that for timing, huh? They did. You should go and tell Wynonna,” Nicole said.

“You don’t want to come with me?”

“I think you should be the one to tell her.”

“Okay,” Waverly agreed, her voice small. She stood for a while looking back at Nicole and then she walked quickly out of the room.

Nicole sat for a few minutes until she finally got up and went to her room. Nicole looked around it. It had been her second home for a while now, and she’d be lying if she said she wouldn’t miss it. She opened her suitcase and began taking the rest of her clothes out of the drawers. After a while she felt eyes on her and turned to see Waverly standing in the doorway.

“Hey. How did she take the news?” Nicole asked.

It took Waverly a while to respond, her eyes fixed on Nicole.

“She was happy, but she said she wanted to go back to sleep. Like I said, she’ll be out until tomorrow. She does this all the time when she does night shoots or whatever. I don’t know how she can sleep so much,” Waverly rambled.

Nicole nodded, and turned back to keep packing. There was a lump in her throat, and she didn’t know what else to do.

“This is anti-climactic, isn’t it?” Nicole said, re-folding a shirt. “It’s never as dramatic as you think it’s going to be, but you wouldn’t really want it any other way. I guess I thought we might catch him when he tried to attack her again, but it’s better like this. It’s good that it’s all been handled without any more incident. So, that’s that.”

It took a long time for Waverly to reply.

“When are you going?”

Nicole couldn’t look at her. She could hear the emotion in Waverly’s voice and knew that if she did, she might cry herself.

Nicole shrugged. “Now, I guess. There’s no need for me to be here anymore. I’ll come by tomorrow and meet with Wynonna just to wrap things up.”

“And what about us?”

Nicole shrugged again. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t _know_?”

Nicole exhaled heavily. “I told you, I need time to think about everything.”

Waverly moved forward, and Nicole was shocked when she grabbed the shirt Nicole was folding out of her hands and threw it away from her. Maybe she shouldn’t be so shocked. She should have learned by now how hot-blooded Waverly could be; that on the other side of her bubbly nature lay a quick temper.

“After everything that’s happened, you can at least talk to me for a minute!” Waverly said.

Nicole stared back at her, holding up her hands. “I don’t know how many times I can say it, I need time to think, okay?”

“What do you need time to think about?” Waverly said.

“You don’t get it.”

“What don’t I get? I couldn’t help it, you know. It’s not my fault Henry worked it out. You’re not being fair,” Waverly said.

“Maybe not, but you just could have told me, so I’d be prepared.”

“How could I have told you? Look at how you’re acting now. I just wanted things to be good between us,” Waverly said, her breath catching.

 “Hey. Okay. I’ll own it if I wasn’t approachable about this stuff.”

“Then don’t shut down on me now, or get all angry. Talk to me.”

“Okay,” Nicole said, taking a deep breath and moving to sit on the bed. “Let’s talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience with this - I know I'd been updating pretty regularly until now. I always write a few chapters ahead but hadn't gotten to actually putting it up because I wasn't as ahead as I wanted to be. I do intend on finishing this one, and I appreciate everyone who has commented and added kudos so much. Hope you're still enjoying :)


	11. Chapter 11

“Where do you want to start?”

“I just want to know what’s going to happen now.” Waverly asked, sitting across from her on the mattress. “Do you still want to go away with me?”

Nicole’s eyes travelled the length of Waverly’s body. There was no dampening of her desire. Nicole wanted Waverly as much as she ever had. Yet Nicole couldn’t listen to the voice in her mind telling her to just go with it, to do whatever Waverly wanted.

“I’m sorry. Not right now,” Nicole replied.

“Because you need time,” Waverly said tiredly.

“Yes. I think it’d be good if I went home, took a break. We could catch up in a week or two, when the dust has settled,” Nicole said.

“A week or two? Waverly said, staring back at her. When Nicole didn’t answer, Waverly continued. “If that’s really what you want.”

“It’s just that I think it would be a good idea.”

Nicole could see the days stretched out ahead of her. They were long and lonely, and so empty. It didn’t matter because she needed them, especially when she suddenly felt so claustrophobic in this house. She didn’t trust herself to make good decisions about Waverly right now. If she could just spend some time by herself, and maybe talk to a friend or two, her head would be so much clearer.

“Why would it be a good idea?”

Nicole stood up and paced across the room, chewing her thumb while she tried to figure out how to articulate her feelings. She was aware that she had the tendency to grow quiet when she was angry or upset. More than one of her ex-girlfriends had complained about it. Nicole leaned against the dresser and turned to face Waverly.

“I want a reset. I’m not usually like this. I know I’m freaking out about people knowing about us, but I feel like I can’t help it. I wish I could. If we hadn’t started dating while work was in the way, I would have swept you off your feet.”

 “Are you kidding me?” Waverly asked, looking up at her from the bed. “You _have_ done that Nicole. I love the way you treat me. You’ve been amazing.”

“No, I haven’t. I haven’t been like I want to be. You don’t know how much I wish I could have met you some other way. If you were just the girl in the coffee shop. Things would have been so different. I would have wanted to show you off every chance I got, instead of hiding away. No matter what happens now, this will always be where we started.”

“What if we hadn’t met at all though? Wouldn’t that be worse? What if we never saw one another again after that day in the coffee shop, and we each never knew who the other person really was? All of this brought us together. Don’t you think that tells us something?”

Nicole found herself smiling, warmth spreading through her. “You’re so positive Waverly. You can always see the good side of things, can’t you?”

“Not about everything. There’s some things where I can’t,” Waverly said.

Nicole watched while Waverly looked down at the floor, then slowly look back up at her. “I really like you Nicole.”

Nicole held her breath, for just a moment, then exhaled. “I like you too, Waverly.”

Waverly rose and started walking toward her.

Nicole straightened up where she stood. They didn’t take their eyes away from one another’s as Waverly edged closer.

Nicole reached out and slipped her arms under Waverly’s robe, around her waist. They held onto one another and Nicole breathed Waverly in, pulling her tight. They stood quietly, holding each other close. Nicole felt Waverly’s hand pressing against the small of her back and then there was the familiar pounding of her heart, because Waverly was so soft against her and because she smelled so good.

“When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought about was that you were my girlfriend. I was so happy. I couldn’t believe it,” Waverly said.

Nicole held her tighter. “Me neither.”

“You regret it, though. Don’t you? You wish none of this ever happened.”

Nicole pulled back, and held Waverly’s face in her hands.

“That’s not what I think, Waverly.”

Waverly gripped her wrists gently. “But you’re still going, aren’t you?”

“This has all been so intense. This is my job Waverly, and I just found out it’s ending. Can you understand?”

Waverly looked into her eyes as though trying to read what was in her mind. They gazed at one another, and Nicole didn’t look away.

“Okay. I won’t try to keep you from going.”

Nicole dropped her hands, and reluctantly moved backward. Waverly moved back too, taking a couple of steps toward the door.

“Like I said, I’ll be here tomorrow to talk to Wynonna. Then I’ll call you. Okay?”

“Goodnight,” Waverly said. She was holding onto the door knob, lingering there for a moment as though she wanted to say something else. Then she smiled tightly at Nicole, and was gone.

 

As soon as Nicole sat in her car to drive away from the mansion a weight settled on her chest, and she was seized by the fear that she’d just screwed up really badly. Though the words between them had been understanding and Nicole believed she’d gotten through to Waverly somewhat, the look on Waverly’s face when she left was haunting her. It felt like maybe she’d broken something.

The night was long, and Nicole spent restless hours tossing and turning, disturbed by dreams of the stalker and of Waverly. As she blearily stirred cream into her coffee, Nicole wondered how she was going to make it through the full day without falling asleep, crying, or both. Somewhere in the early hours of the morning she’d decided that she was going to leave town for a week or two to recharge. She wanted to be somewhere far away from the demands of work, somewhere she could forget about everything, just for a little while.

When she arrived at the Earp mansion, Nicole sat for a moment in the drive, her hands clenched tightly around the steering wheel. She hoped with everything in her that Waverly might have gone out for the day, or that she would at least make herself scarce for a little while. If she saw Waverly she might crumble.

Nicole plastered a professional smile on her face when the maid answered the door.

“Hi there. I have a meeting with Wynonna?”

“Sure thing, she’s out at the pool, I’ll walk you out.”

Wynonna was lounging in a deck chair, and Waverly was nearby floating on her back in the water. At the sound of voices Waverly stood up in the pool, looking at Nicole with a hand shading her eyes from the sun. She was wearing a bikini, her tan skin glistening. Nicole swallowed hard and turned her attention to Wynonna.

“You want an iced tea?” Wynonna asked, gesturing to her own drink.

“I’m good. No booze for you this morning?” Nicole asked.

“Nah. I’ve got a plane to catch this afternoon. Going to see Henry, and I can’t wait,” Wynonna sighed happily. “Just me and him, no chaperone. No offence.”

Nicole held up her hands. “Hey, none taken. I’m happy for you.”

“So, what now?” Wynonna asked.

“Well, this is a just a wrap up meeting, to say goodbye. You weren’t in any state to do it last night. Do you have any concerns moving forward? I take it you don’t, if you feel safe enough to get on a plane.”

Wynonna shrugged.  Nicole watched out of the corner of her eye as Waverly swam laps, her graceful strokes breaking the water.

“It might take me a little while to feel totally normal, but yeah. Thanks for everything you’ve done. I thought you had such a stick up your ass when I first met you, but you’re alright.”

Nicole, struck by the emotion layered underneath Wynonna’s casual words, looked out across the water and cleared her throat. “Thanks Wynonna. It was my pleasure. If you need anything in the future or you have any worries, call us.”

Wynonna slapped her knee and rose from her deck chair with a groan. “Okay. I will, I promise. But now, I’m gonna go pack.”

Nicole stood up to follow and Wynonna lifted her sunglasses so that Nicole could see her eyes.

“I’ve kept my mouth shut pretty good, but so help me, if you leave right now without talking to Waverly…”

Nicole stood still, her eyes widening. She opened her mouth to defend herself and then closed it when Wynonna raised her eyebrows, fixing her with another look.

“I’ll stay,” Nicole said.

Wynonna nodded and walked away. Nicole slowly turned around and followed Waverly with her gaze until she reached the end. Nicole admired Waverly’s strong shoulders as she pulled herself out of the water, moving to sit on the edge with her feet dangling into the pool. Waverly stared down at them and Nicole moved toward her, their eyes locking. Waverly fidgeted and shifted on the edge, her eyes slipping away again.

“Hey,” Nicole said, the word coming out more breathily than she intended. “How are you?”

She sat down next to Waverly, folding her legs up next to herself.

“Okay.”

Waverly turned her face to Nicole, who could see that Waverly must have slept as poorly as she had. Nicole started to lift a hand to put it around Waverly’s waist and dropped it self-consciously.

“Listen, I was going to call you. I wanted to let you know I’m going away for a couple of weeks. I’ll be staying with my brother.”

“Oh yeah?” Waverly said impassively.

“Yeah. It’ll be good to clear my head, get myself together.”

There was a long silence before Waverly spoke again. “Have a nice time.”

“Do you want to say anything?” Nicole asked.

Wynonna was right, she had been trying to avoid Waverly, but only because it seemed like it would be easier to have this conversation on the phone away from the mansion. Now though, she felt desperate for Waverly to connect with her somehow, to be more present.

Waverly was avoiding her eyes now, staring down at her feet again.

“I’ve been thinking, maybe we should just chalk this up to a high-pressure situation where we both got a bit carried away.”

“What do you mean, Waverly?”

“We don’t even know if it’d all work out if it was just a normal thing, without all the other stuff that’s been going on. Maybe it was just the excitement. Like, the illicitness of it all.”

“Really?” Nicole asked. She had no idea what to make of all of this. “Is that’s what’s been exciting about all this to you?”

Waverly turned, staring her down enough to make Nicole recoil slightly, but she held her ground. Nicole was shocked by the flintiness in Waverly’s expression, and by how angry she looked.

“I think maybe you should just go,” Waverly said.

“If you say so.”

Nicole stood up, shoving her hands in her pockets and looking down at Waverly. Last night she’d thought that Waverly got it. Waverly hadn’t seemed happy about it exactly, but Nicole had gotten the impression that she wanted to support Nicole to get what she needed. Part of Nicole desperately wanted to work this out and couldn’t bear the thought of leaving it this way, but she was so exhausted that it felt like the emotional effort it would take to fight Waverly right now was too much.

“Do you even want me to call you when I get back?” Nicole asked.

Waverly crossed her arms. “Do whatever you want.”

Nicole got into the car, slamming the door behind her and hitting her hands once on the steering wheel. She looked up at the Earp mansion, wondering if this was going to be the last time she’d ever see it. Nicole swallowed back her tears and shifted the car into drive.

 

Over the next couple of days, Nicole picked up her cell to text Waverly countless times every day. She couldn’t stop wondering what Waverly was doing, or whether Waverly was as heartbroken as she was. It was impossible to stop thinking about the last couple of conversations they’d had. Nicole ran them through her mind over and over again, and each time they got even worse than the time before.

Finally, after a week had gone by, Nicole broke. She’d been going back and forth all day, her mind on Waverly while she played with her niece and nephew. Nicole missed Waverly with a pain that was almost physical. Pictures of her smile kept running through Nicole’s mind, but they were quickly chased away by images of Waverly’s eyes during their last conversation. Though Nicole loved spending time with her family she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this lonely.

Waverly didn’t pick up. As soon as Nicole heard her voice on the message she hung up, tears pricking in her eyes. Waverly always had her cell on her for work; there was no way she could have missed the call coming through. For the rest of the day Nicole forced herself to stop looking at her phone, waiting for her call to be returned.

Maybe she should start thinking about letting go. The thought made her heart sick.

 

When she returned to the city, Nicole still had a weekend off before she was scheduled to meet with Reggie to talk about her next assignment. She’d barely seen her friends for the past few months and they’d been nagging her to go out, so she figured she might as well see if any of them were free. Nicole still didn’t feel like talking about everything that had happened with Waverly, but at least spending time with friends would take her mind off things.

Her friends Ellie and Lana wanted to go to a hipster joint across town, and Nicole couldn’t be bothered trying to change the location. In a form of silent protest she refused to dress up, and met them wearing black jeans and a button down top.

The three of them found a small round table in a corner and set themselves up while Nicole looked around the room. A realization was dawning on her and she narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth between her friends.

“Wait, you brought me to a girls’ night without telling me?”

Ellie nodded and pointed a finger at her. “You’d never come if we told you, but you’ll have fun now that you’re here.”

“How is it that you make that sound like a threat?” Nicole asked.

Lana held out her beer, clinking it against Nicole’s. “Just go with it.”

“Okay, I’ll go with it. Just don’t pull this stunt again,” Nicole grumbled, but she’d finally cracked a smile. She wasn’t at all interested in meeting women, and in fact she didn’t know if she was free to do so even if she wanted to. Things with Waverly had been left uncertain, and it was strange for Nicole to think that she didn’t even know if she had a girlfriend or not.

The thought made her feel blue all over again, and she stared into space toward the dance floor. Ellie and Lana hadn’t noticed, and they joked around as Nicole slowly began to focus on a woman dancing at the edge of the crowd. She kind of looked like Waverly, Nicole noticed. They had the same build. The girl was dancing with a couple of other people, a guy and a girl.

When she turned around Nicole’s heart lurched in her chest. Maybe she was going nuts. Nicole had been thinking about Waverly so much and wishing she could see her, that now she was making this woman into her.

The woman walked toward the bar and Nicole knew for sure that it was Waverly. What was she doing here? Nicole took in the short skirt and the black mesh top she was wearing. She looked stunning, and Nicole wasn’t the only one in here staring at her.

Without a word to her friends, Nicole left the table, walking toward her resolutely.

Waverly stood at the bar, waiting to be noticed by the barmaid. Nicole tapped her on the shoulder.

Waverly turned, her expression changing as she looked up and into Nicole’s eyes.

“Nicole? What are you doing here?”


	12. Chapter 12

“I was going to ask you the same question,” Nicole said.

They stood staring at one another. It seemed obvious that Waverly was out tonight hoping to meet someone else. Nicole wondered about the girl Waverly was dancing with. The club was dim, but Nicole could make out that she was pretty, a petite blonde thing. Was she more of Waverly’s type than Nicole was?

The thought made her heart ache with a fierce jealousy. It slammed through her that when she looked at Waverly it was much more than desire that she felt. She cared for Waverly more than she could remember caring for anyone for a long time. She’d known it for a while now, and her confusion had made her lose sight of it.

Nicole had been trying to ignore just how much she’d missed Waverly, and how much it made her feel like she was missing a piece of herself. It flashed before her in the blink of an eye, all those stolen moments they’d had together. The tenderness between them, the connection so raw and real that if she were to try Nicole would have trouble explaining it to anyone given the short time they’d known one another. Maybe that had something to do with why she hadn’t talked to her brother or sister-in-law about what was going on. She’d spent the last two weeks in a daze, just trying to get through.

Waverly shrugged. “I’m out with friends. You?”

“Same here.”

“When did you get back?” Waverly said, accusation in her tone.

Nicole ran a hand through her hair. The pumping of the music made it hard to talk and Waverly was anything but happy to see her.

“Just today. I tried to call you while I was away,” Nicole said. “I was going to try again over the weekend.”

Waverly’s eyes were fixed somewhere below her own, staring at nothing.

“Waverly? Can you stop doing that please?” Nicole said.

Waverly’s eyes snapped upward. “Stop what?”

“Blanking me like you are. I’m trying to talk to you.”

“Oh, now you want to talk, so I have to be ready! Never mind that I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight, and I’m trying to have some fun after a really shitty couple of weeks, no thanks to you.”

Stunned into silence, Nicole slowly nodded. “Okay… that’s…you’re right. I’m taken by surprise too. I’m sorry.”

Nicole leaned forward, trying to make herself heard over the music by speaking near to Waverly’s ear. When she drew closer to Waverly she could smell her perfume, and the scent of her shampoo.

“Do you think we could go outside and talk?”

Waverly pulled back, her eyes darting toward Nicole’s mouth and away again.

“Okay,” she said.

They moved together for the exit. Nicole turned to wave goodbye to her friends. Under any other circumstances she would have laughed at their shocked expressions. They had no idea that she knew Waverly and must be thinking Nicole had just pulled off leaving with a woman she’d only spent a minute talking to.

They walked down the sidewalk, until Waverly stopped and turned to her.

“It’s so weird that we ended up in the same place tonight,” Nicole said, unsure of where else to start.

“Yeah. I know it is. What do you want to talk about?”

Nicole pointed to Waverly and back to herself. “Us. What’s going on with us? I have no idea what happened. Did you mean what you said, about it just being the situation?”

“Of course, I didn’t mean it! I was looking for some reassurance. I was worried that was what was going on for you.”

“Oh,” Nicole said, relief washing through her. That one had really stung. “How could you think that? That I was in it for some illicit thrill or something? That doesn’t even make sense. You saw how stressed out I was by the idea of getting caught.”

“All I knew was that as soon as they got him, you couldn’t wait to get away from me. Plus, as soon as someone else knew about us you were totally turned off.”

“That wasn’t it, I wasn’t turned off. I was worried about my job! My reputation! I just wanted a break, like I told you. You couldn’t wait for me for two weeks?”

“No, I couldn’t,” Waverly said stubbornly. “Not when you couldn’t even tell me for sure that things were going to be okay. You were so cold.”

Nicole reached out and put her hand on the side of Waverly’s face, looking into her eyes. “Hey, listen. I didn’t mean to be cold to you.”

At last there was a crack in Waverly’s exterior, emotion beyond anger, and Nicole saw how badly she’d hurt Waverly. She’d been so hurt herself that she’d barely allowed herself to think about that.

“Do you even know how excited I was to be with you? I’d researched places to go, I was ready any time to drop everything and go away with you, and then we get the chance and you tell me you’re taking off. Do you have any idea what that was like for me?”

“I’m really sorry, Waverly. It was all just a lot,” Nicole said, stroking her thumb over Waverly’s cheek. “I didn’t know how to fix it. But I did try to call you once my head had cleared a little. Why didn’t you answer?”

Waverly let out a nervous laugh. “Because I assumed you were calling to say goodbye, for good. I knew I’d have to hear it sometime but I wasn’t ready.”

“Oh, no Waverly,” Nicole said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you when I was away. I needed to hear your voice.”

“You did?” Waverly said softly.

They stared into one another’s eyes. Nicole dared to smile at Waverly and was rewarded when she smiled back.

“Do you think we can try and work all this out? It’s not over for you, is it?” Nicole asked.

Waverly didn’t speak, but she shook her head. Nicole inched forward, desperately hoping, until it was clear from Waverly’s expression that she wanted this too.

Nicole sighed when their lips met, overwhelmed by how good it felt to touch Waverly again. Now that their mouths were joined Nicole couldn’t fathom how she’d lasted so long without this, how she could have willingly gone away and left Waverly behind. Nicole grabbed Waverly’s hair gently, balling it in her fists. Waverly’s mouth opened to her and they sank into one another, warmth spreading through the pit of Nicole’s stomach.

They kissed for all they were worth, backing up together until Waverly was leaning against a shop window, ignoring the stares of passers-by. Waverly moaned into her mouth and Nicole gently bit Waverly’s lower lip, her hands gripping Waverly’s shoulders.

They pressed close to one another and Nicole closed her eyes, any old lingering resentment falling away in the wake of Waverly’s soft warm mouth on her own. What had it ever been worth, her useless worry and her wounded ego, when stacked up against this? Waverly’s hand was insistent on the back of her neck, holding her and keeping her near. Waverly’s breasts were pushed up against hers, soft and so inviting.

It didn’t take long for Waverly to push her hands up and under Nicole’s shirt, skimming her hands over her stomach and running them up her ribcage. Nicole was so turned on she couldn’t think straight, but she was aware enough to know they couldn’t keep doing this here. Nicole shuddered against Waverly, then pulled back, clearing her throat. The look of need on Waverly’s face almost made her lean in for more.

“Can we go somewhere?” Nicole asked.

“We can go to my place, it’s closer. Just let me go say goodbye to my friends, I’ve got to get my bag anyway.”

“Of course,” Nicole said, stepping back and taking her hands away from Waverly’s waist. Waverly looked over her shoulder as she walked away, smiling back at her.

Nicole stood and waited with butterflies in her stomach, rocking back and forth on her feet with what she knew must be a foolish grin on her face. At the beginning of this night she could never have imagined where they’d be right now.

Waverly put a hand around her waist while she organized an uber. They sat close to one another holding hands on the ride over, Nicole rubbing her thumb over Waverly’s skin. They didn’t speak, but they kept catching one another’s eye as they passed through the streets.

The mansion loomed in front of them after they entered the gates, the soft glow of lights leading them up to the door.

“It’s weird coming back here,” Nicole said, breaking their silence.

“Not bad weird I hope?”

“Not bad weird.”

“Good. I want you to feel comfortable here.”

They were barely inside when they were on one another again, kissing deeply in a way that made Nicole lightheaded. Waverly’s tongue brushed against hers with aching sweetness one second and then stabbed into her mouth with passion the next. They worked their way upstairs to Waverly’s room where they stood, Waverly’s arms around Nicole’s neck, the two of them pressing close.

Nicole kissed Waverly’s neck, tasting her soft skin. Nicole ran her hands over Waverly’s body and took Waverly’s ear lobe between her teeth.

“I’ve missed you,” she said, and Waverly moaned at Nicole’s voice close to her ear.

Waverly pushed her hands under Nicole’s shirt again, then started undoing her buttons with an urgency that only increased Nicole’s desire. When Waverly cupped her breasts over her bra and ran her thumbs over Nicole’s nipples, Nicole’s head dropped back slightly. She loved how bold Waverly had become with her, how she touched her without hesitation or fear.

Waverly gently pushed her backward until Nicole was sitting on the bed. They worked together until Waverly was sitting in her lap, Nicole pulling Waverly’s smooth legs around her waist.

Waverly was at the perfect height for Nicole to lean forward and kiss her neck again. She pressed her lips against Waverly’s skin, tenderly kissing the column of her neck, pushing her hair back.

Waverly’s hands went back to her breasts and Nicole shivered as Waverly caressed her. Waverly pushed Nicole’s shirt from her shoulders and fumbled with the hook of her bra for a moment until it was out of her way. Now that there were no barriers Waverly’s hands had free rein and she took full advantage, her fingers soft against Nicole’s skin.

“God, Waverly,” Nicole said, softly biting Waverly’s neck and running her tongue up to her ear. She grabbed at Waverly’s breasts, stroking them through the fabric of her top. Too impatient to take it off, she pulled the shirt and the straps of her bra down until Waverly’s breasts were free for her to run her tongue over. The effect of seeing Waverly before her never failed to take her breath away. She took the perfect breasts in her hands, sucking on one nipple and the other. Nicole moved back for long enough to take in Waverly’s expression of pleasure, the way her eyebrows knitted together.

“Do you want to lie down?” Nicole asked.

“I do,” Waverly whispered. She climbed off Nicole and moved quickly back. Impatiently, she pulled Nicole toward her, her hand going to the back of Nicole’s head to guide her back to where she wanted her to be. Nicole was all too happy to comply, running her lips and tongue over Waverly’s breasts. All Nicole could hear was the sound of Waverly panting underneath her, while she arched up to her mouth. Nicole gripped Waverly’s thigh, and Waverly pulled it tight around her, grinding up and into her.

Waverly reached up and pressed her palms to Nicole’s breasts, then ran the back of her hands over the underside of them. Nicole’s hips rocked down into Waverly and Waverly bit her lip, her heated gaze up at Nicole making her breath quicken. Waverly took her by the shoulders, dragging her back down again so they could kiss.

As they kissed Nicole could feel Waverly’s thigh between her legs, pressing into her insistently. They were moving together, back and forth, their hips driving into one another’s. Breathing hard, Nicole shifted back and kissed her way down Waverly’s chest.

Waverly hurriedly pushed her back for a second so that she could remove the items that had bunched around her waist. When they were gone, Nicole pressed her lips against Waverly again and again, kissing her stomach while Waverly’s hands tangled in her hair. She loved watching the way Waverly’s muscles moved as she clenched in pleasure, and Nicole smiled to herself while she ran her tongue over Waverly’s skin.

Nicole hitched Waverly’s skirt up her legs, running both hands up Waverly’s firm thighs. She moved them up and down, and Waverly responded by pushing upward into her, as though she couldn’t get close enough.

Knowing that she was playing with fire but unable to stop herself, Nicole moved down and settled between Waverly’s legs. She looked up at Waverly, who was propped up on her elbows, staring down at her with an expression of want so forceful it took Nicole’s breath away.

Nicole kissed the sensitive flesh on Waverly’s inner thighs. She placed delicate kisses there, moving between Waverly’s legs. It was obvious how aroused Waverly was and Nicole felt it go right to her own center. Nicole glanced up once more at Waverly, whose hand rested softly on the back of Nicole’s head, urging her to keep going.

Nicole leaned in, kissing Waverly over the fabric of her underwear.

“Is this okay?” Nicole asked, her words coming out raggedly. “I don’t want you to do anything…”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Waverly said. Nicole did it again, and being this close to Waverly was driving her crazy. She breathed in deeply, her tongue against the silk, and Waverly’s fingers tightened in her hair.

Unable to bear it anymore, being so close but not being able to touch her properly, Nicole moved back up again. She kissed Waverly’s mouth. This was good, the anticipation was good, she told herself. It would only make it more special when they got there. Waverly was thrusting into Nicole, grabbing at her back.

Waverly’s breath was hot against her ear. “I didn’t want you to stop doing that.”

“Oh. It’s just that, I thought maybe things were moving too fast.”

“I want to, though. Now.”

Nicole swallowed hard and gazed at Waverly, knowing at once how much she meant it. “What about going away?”

Waverly kissed her fiercely, arms around her neck. “We can still do that, but I don’t want to wait.”

“I don’t want you to regret anything.”

Waverly grabbed her hand, gently pushing it down her own body until it was resting on the outside of her underwear. “I’m okay. I mean, I know I’m ready.”

Nicole breathed out, cupping Waverly, her fingers moving for a moment and then stopping and drawing back.

“Wait, I don’t want you to do this because of everything that’s happened. You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

Waverly shook her head. “It’s not about that. If you don’t want to it’s okay, but don’t make it because of me.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows and looked down at her, shaking her head. “Like I’d ever not want to.”

They smiled at one another, breaking the tension, but a moment later they gazed into one another’s eyes solemnly. Waverly nodded at her and Nicole nodded back. They sealed it with a deep kiss.

Nicole moved back to slowly unzip Waverly’s skirt and draw it down her legs. For a moment she just stared at Waverly, lying there in black underwear and nothing else. Nicole put a palm between Waverly’s legs, and touched her over her underwear again, Waverly softly moaning at the contact.

Nicole bent to kiss Waverly softly, fingers playing over her. She looked into Waverly’s eyes as she slipped her hand down the front of Waverly’s underwear, groaning at the slick softness she found, at how ready Waverly was. Waverly’s hips bucked while Nicole stroked her.

Nicole sighed into Waverly’s ear.

“Oh, Wave,” she whispered. “Can I?”

She looked downward and Nicole felt Waverly nod against her, and she almost wanted to laugh at the quickness of the movement, and the enthusiasm Waverly was showing.

Nicole travelled down Waverly’s body, pressing her lips to every naked inch and listening to Waverly moan. Finally, she settled between Waverly’s thighs, dragging her underwear down her legs. When Waverly was open and ready for her Nicole felt her own heart thudding in her chest. She wanted this to be special for Waverly, for the two of them. Nicole looked up, her heart melting at the expression on Waverly’s face.

“If it’s not good for you, you let me know, okay?” Nicole said. “We can stop anytime you want.”

Waverly shook her head, speaking through heavy breath. “I don’t think that’s something we have to worry about.”

Nicole brushed her lips over Waverly’s thigh. She lifted one of Waverly’s legs over her shoulder and drew forward, eyes darting up to see Waverly’s head move back when Nicole licked her. Waverly groaned in pleasure as Nicole used her tongue, drawing lazy circles. Nicole reached up and put a hand flat against Waverly’s stomach. She felt Waverly’s hands come to her hair, her legs widening subtly.

Nicole was so turned on by the taste of her, and by the sensuality of having Waverly spread before her. Nicole had fantasized about this so many times. Waverly was so responsive to Nicole, so uninhibited despite her obvious nerves. It was everything Nicole could have ever asked for.

Nicole hooked her arms around Waverly’s thighs to hold her close.

Nicole watched Waverly’s reactions, adjusting her movements when she saw what Waverly liked. Nicole reached to take Waverly’s hand, their fingers interlaced while Nicole stroked with her tongue, taking Waverly higher and higher.

Waverly came with a loud drawn out moan, her hands pressed into her eyes. She lay staring up at the ceiling for a moment, breathing hard.

“Oh god,” she said, her breathing slowing. “That was amazing. Come up here.”

Feeling pleased with herself, Nicole moved and propped herself up on an elbow, looking down at Waverly’s face. Waverly pulled her down so they could kiss, her hands running over Nicole’s bare back. After a few moments Waverly reached down and undid the button and zipper on her jeans, kissing her all the while.

“Take these off? I want to feel you against me,” Waverly said.

Nicole quickly pulled back and stood up next to the bed, pushing her jeans down her legs. When she was standing in her underwear Waverly cocked an eyebrow in silent instruction and Nicole removed them too. Waverly looked her up and down, biting her lip.

“God Nicole, you’re so beautiful. You’re like a painting. Come here.”

Nicole joined her, and Waverly pulled her close, slinging an arm around her neck. Nicole had never experienced anything so sensual as the feeling of their naked skin touching and they kissed softly for a long time, slowly rubbing against one another. After some time Waverly rolled on top of Nicole, pressing a thigh between Nicole’s, grinding against her in the most delicious way.

Waverly reached down between them, pulling back a little and moving her own hair behind her neck. Nicole saw how flushed she was, how hesitant, and she felt a rush of tenderness toward her. Her fingers slipped between Nicole’s legs. Waverly looked down uncertainly, then closed her eyes for a moment while she touched.

“I love the way you feel. I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Waverly said.

“No, it’s…” Nicole trailed off. Waverly was fumbling a little but she didn’t mind at all, wanting Waverly to take her time. After a moment Waverly found her clit and stroked her, and Nicole exhaled sharply.

Nicole heard herself let out a moan at Waverly’s caress. Waverly paused for a second, reaching her free arm around Nicole’s back to hold her before she continued. Nicole leg was bent and she mindlessly rubbed her foot against the sheets, overcome with the pleasure of Waverly touching her in just the right way.

Waverly was looking down into her eyes and Nicole wrapped an arm around Waverly’s neck, moving her hips. At once Nicole felt broken apart by the emotion of it, not just from the unbelievable fact of being with Waverly, but from the way their eyes were locked. They felt so connected in a way Nicole had rarely experienced.

“Waverly,” Nicole said, and Waverly stopped.

“Is everything okay?”

“Of course. I just…I want you inside.”

“Oh,” Waverly said, smiling a little shyly and melting Nicole even more.

She reached down and entered Nicole smoothly, quickly setting up a steady rhythm. Waverly bent down to kiss Nicole while she moved inside of her. Waverly was lying against her and Nicole loved the way her smooth skin brushed against her, creating perfect friction that added to how good it all felt.

Nicole came in wave after wave, bursting into white light. Waverly held her tightly all the while, anchoring her.

They rested their foreheads against one another, and Nicole pulled Waverly closely, enjoying the feeling of her gentle weight on her body.

“Was that okay?” Waverly said against her neck.

Nicole laughed, giggles bursting out of her.

“What are you laughing at?” Waverly said, pulling back to look at Nicole, but she was starting to giggle herself.

“C’mon Waverly, it was more than okay. You could feel it too, couldn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Waverly said simply, settling against Nicole again.

Nicole breathed her in, happier than she’d ever been.


	13. Chapter 13

Nicole surfaced slowly, becoming happily aware of Waverly’s warm body pressed against her. They’d only fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning after getting out of bed to raid the fridge.

Sensing that Waverly was awake too, Nicole put her hand on Waverly’s hip and kissed her temple. Waverly answered by arching back into her, her rear end firm against Nicole.

“Good morning,” Nicole said, and she felt Waverly move against her once more, the angle of her body unmistakably suggestive.

Nicole moved her hand up to cup a smooth bare breast, feeling the weight of it in her hand. Waverly exhaled sharply. Even after the long night that included touching them as much as she’d wanted to, Nicole couldn’t get enough. Now she caressed Waverly, her fingers running over her and taking a nipple between her fingers. Waverly turned her head to capture Nicole’s lips and they kissed softly and then deeply, Nicole’s touch becoming rougher.

Waverly was breathing hard, wriggling against her. Nicole slid her hand down Waverly’s stomach, feathering her touch over firm muscle, and reached between Waverly’s legs. Waverly hooked a leg back over her, opening herself more to Nicole’s hand, and Nicole rubbed slow lazy circles while they kissed. Nicole rocked her hips softly into Waverly’s back, and Waverly moved in time with her.

It didn’t take long, and then Waverly rolled onto her back sighing so that she could kiss Nicole properly.

“Good morning,” Waverly replied.

Nicole grinned down at her, propping herself up on an elbow. She kept moving her fingers over Waverly’s chest and stomach, no longer with any purpose, just to feel Waverly under her hand.

Nicole glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. “Actually, it’s just now become the afternoon.”

“Well, good afternoon then.”

“You didn’t have anything you were supposed to be doing today, I hope?”

“Nope. You?”

Nicole shook her head. “I don’t go back to work until Monday.”

“Do you want to hang out some more then?” Waverly asked. “I feel like we have some lost time to make up for.”

“Of course, I want to. I couldn’t agree more,” Nicole said.

“Good. Do you want to go for a swim with me?” Waverly asked, looking so cutely excited about it that Nicole’s stomach flipped.

“I’ve been dying to get into that pool, after all that time watching you guys. I don’t have my bathers though,” Nicole replied.

“It’s not like I haven’t just seen you naked for the last twelve hours or so, what do you need bathers for?”

“What if we get papped?” Nicole joked. “There might be photographers lurking in the bushes, hoping to get a look at your sister.”

“I do it all the time, it’ll be fine,” Waverly said, rolling out of bed.

“You do? I never saw,” Nicole replied.

Waverly looked over her shoulder, raising it a little, and smirked. “Well, you’re about to.”

 

Nicole stood in the middle of the pool with Waverly ’s legs wrapped around her, holding her up. The cool water was heaven against their naked bodies. They were kissing at a leisurely pace, open mouthed, their tongues softly moving against one another’s.

“You don’t have any regrets about last night, do you?” Nicole asked when they broke apart for air.

Waverly leaned her forehead against Nicole’s. “How could I regret it? You don’t, do you?”

Nicole shook her head. “Not at all. I did just always like the idea of going away together though, maybe we could still do that one day?”

“Of course.”

“I’m really sorry about the way everything played out with you and I.”

Waverly kissed her lips once, sweetly. “It’s okay now. I’m sorry too.”

“Like I’ve said I’m such a rule follower. I’ve never done anything like this before,” Nicole said, rubbing Waverly’s thighs under the water.

Waverly was staring into her eyes, frowning a little. “And as _I’ve_ said I do really like that about you, but that’s not all going to ruin it for you, is it?”

“No. I promise. This is a fresh start. I was thinking, I might even talk to Reggie about it, explain some of what happened. I’d rather be transparent and take the consequences. I think it’ll help me put it to rest.”

“Okay. If there’s anything I can do to help, you let me know.”

Nicole backed Waverly up to the wall of the pool, pressing her body lightly against the hard surface. They kissed breathlessly.

“I should probably go home and get a change of clothes. Maybe we can meet for dinner later?”

“Of course,” Waverly agreed, then leaned forward to trace Nicole’s lower lip with her tongue. Nicole shivered and pulled Waverly in for a deep kiss. She didn’t know how she was ever going to tear herself away, but then a thought occurred to her.

“What are you doing for the next couple of days?”

“No plans. Why?”

“Well, Wynonna’s away right, so you’re not busy with work? And I’ve got a meeting booked with Reggie but I could do it over the phone. We could do this right.”

Waverly grinned at her. “You want to go away?”

Nicole shrugged. “What do you think?”

“I think we should go and look at my research!”

 

“You see, if we drive up here, we can take a nice scenic route up to the mountains,” Waverly said, excitedly tapping at the screen of her laptop. She opened another tab. “And, see these cabins? There are vacancies for tonight. I can book it right now.”

Nicole retrieved her handbag, which was lying in the entry hall after being dropped there the night before, and took out her credit card.

“It’s on me,” she said. “Let’s do this thing.”

Waverly clapped her hands together and sat down at the desk, focusing on getting the reservation organized. Nicole kissed the top of her head, running her hand over her hair.

“I’m going to go home and pack a suitcase, okay?”

“Okay! I’ll finish this and then pack myself. I can be at your place in three hours, if I allow enough time for a cat nap so I’m fresh enough to drive. We can take my car. I’ll stop on the way over and pick up some food to take with us. Is that enough time for you? Wait, do you want me to drive you back to your place? You don’t have your car,” Waverly said, her words tumbling over each other.

Nicole laughed. “It’s fine, I’ll get an Uber. Three hours is good, I’m sure I can be ready by then.”

A long hot shower later and Nicole felt refreshed enough to pack her things. She had a nap herself, and then waited for Waverly to arrive. This was one of the more impulsive things she’d ever done, and she felt like she was flying. She couldn’t think of anything more wonderful than spending all that uninterrupted time alone with Waverly.

The way they’d been with one another was something special. Though Nicole had known they had chemistry already she’d been caught off guard by just how good it was. They were so in synch, they had been able to communicate perfectly, and the way Waverly touched her drove her crazy.

It freaked her out too much to wonder what might have happened if she hadn’t bumped into Waverly. It was such a strange co-incidence that destiny must have placed them in one another’s paths, though she’d never been the type to believe in that kind of thing. Knowing Waverly made it easier to believe in the idea of fate, because there was surely something magical about her.

 

Waverly showed up on her doorstep exactly when she said she would, three hours after Nicole left the mansion. After a bout of frenzied making out in Nicole’s hallway they hit the road, armed with snacks and a playlist Waverly confessed to having made a few weeks before in preparation for the trip.

Nicole grabbed Waverly’s phone to turn it up and glanced at the name of the playlist.

“Waverly, did you make a list entitled Dirty Weekend?” she asked, giggling.

Waverly smirked. “I might have.”

They drove through the winding streets watching the trees go by, Nicole’s hand on Waverly’s thigh. They arrived at their cabin at dusk. It was perfect, with dark hardwood floors and antique furniture, and wonderful chaise lounges. There was a four-poster queen-sized bed and they lay together on it, testing the softness and holding hands.

“You’re amazing for pulling this together so fast,” Nicole said.

“It doesn’t feel like I did, I had it all planned out, remember?”

“Well, it’s still pretty amazing.”

“You’re pretty amazing,” Waverly replied. She rolled over to straddle Nicole, who grabbed her ass and pulled her close.

“I’m really glad we came,” Waverly said, kissing Nicole.

“Me too. I’m going to make you come again. So many times,” Nicole said.

Through laughter, Waverly shook her head. “Terrible punning.”

“Who says I’m joking?”

 

They lay next to one another naked on their backs, the bed underneath them still fully made. Their skin was slick with sweat and their legs were tangled together.

“Well, you are a woman who keeps her promises,” Waverly said. “You are really good at that.”

“So are you,” Nicole said. “I can’t believe you ever said you didn’t know what you were doing.”

They each rolled on their sides to face each other, staring into one another’s eyes. Warmth spread through Nicole all over again at the sight of her face.

“Well, thank you. I have to confess that I was all worried I wouldn’t measure up,” Waverly said.

Nicole ran her finger over Waverly’s jawline. “I hate thinking that you felt like that. I could never think that about you. You don’t feel that way anymore, do you?”

“I don’t. It’s easy with you. I don’t have to think about anything. It’s funny, I kind of feel like I’m just discovering what sex is supposed to be like. How I’m supposed to feel about it. That’s not weird, is it?”

“Not weird at all. I don’t feel any differently myself. It’s the best I’ve ever had.”

“You don’t have to say that just because I did.”

“I’m not! It is. There’s something about being with you. I knew it would be like this, from the first time we kissed.”

“How?”

“It just felt right.”

 

The weekend passed in a blur of pleasure, the two of them enveloped in warm bliss. They explored one another, making love in sessions that went on for hours. In between they went out for walks, holding hands and talking while they roamed around the area near their cabin.

They’d decided to stay until Tuesday, and on Monday morning Nicole gathered her courage to call Reggie. She stepped outside of the cabin, after a soft good luck kiss from Waverly.

“Before we get down to new business, there’s something I have to tell you about the last job.”

Nicole drew a deep breath, her face scrunching up, already cringing at how Reggie might respond to her confession. It felt like a mercy that she was doing this over the phone; she didn’t think she would be able to face him.

“I’ve entered into a relationship with Wynonna Earp’s sister, Waverly. It began while I was on the job. I know it’s not acceptable.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the line and Nicole paced back and forth.

“I didn’t get a complaint. Do you think it compromised you?” Reggie said, clearing his throat.

“Yes and no. Either way it was wrong. I take full responsibility.”

Reggie sighed. “Look, you wouldn’t be the first of my agents to get involved in something like this, but I wouldn’t have expected it from you.”

“I know Reggie, I’m sorry. Do you have to let me go?”

Silence again.

“No, I’m not going to do that. Two weeks suspension, no pay. You’ll be on desk work for a while when you get back, until I think I can trust you again. But Haught, this is your one chance. Mess up again and you’re out.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“Hope it was worth it, now I don’t know who I’m going to send on this job,” Reggie grumbled.

“I’m sorry Reggie.”

“That’s enough. Groveling doesn’t suit you.”

“Sorry. I mean…shit, sorry. Thank you,” Nicole said, a lump in her throat. Reggie was being as gruff as ever but there was something about his tone that made her feel like it was all going to be okay, and that she hadn’t entirely lost his respect.

“I’ll see you in two weeks.”

Nicole hung up the phone, a smile spreading across her face. Her finances were going to take a small hit, and it was still going to be difficult to face Reggie when she returned to work, but she felt good for taking responsibility for her actions and being honest. It made her feel free.

She threw the door open and ran inside. Waverly was reclining on the sofa and when Nicole opened the door she sat up.

“How did it go?”

Nicole lay down and rested her head in Waverly’s lap. “Better than I’d hoped. He’s not happy with me, but it’ll be okay.”

Waverly started playing with her hair. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.”

“And you’re sure Wynonna is okay with us dating?”

“Of course, she is. I told you she was never gonna care about the fact you were working for her. Now the dude is caught and everything’s fine. I think she actually really likes you.”

“I don’t know about that. I think she’s probably going to give me a hard time.”

“Well, that _really_ means she likes you.”

Waverly’s hand was roaming everywhere now, moving down Nicole’s arm and touching her stomach.

“Hey, can you lift your head up for a sec?” Waverly asked.

“Where are you going?”

“Nowhere,” Waverly said, moving to lie on top of Nicole. She leaned down and kissed her, and when she pulled away for a moment Nicole smiled up at her.

“What should we do today?” Nicole asked.

Waverly bit her lip, then ran her hands over Nicole’s chest, sliding them down to the button of Nicole’s jeans.

“We can decide later,” she said, kissing Nicole’s neck and working her way downward. When Waverly’s mouth was on her, she gasped. Waverly had gone down on her for the first time yesterday, and judging by the way she’d been since then, Nicole guessed she had a particular fondness for it. She certainly wasn’t complaining.

Nicole closed her eyes, soaring.

 

“Sometimes I can’t believe you like me,” Waverly said, holding her hand.

“Sometimes I can’t believe _you_ like _me_ ,” Nicole replied. “It’s like a dream. I spent so much time wishing you would.”

She leaned her head against Waverly’s shoulder. They’d heated up some mac and cheese and ate it curled up on the sofa, in front of a movie they weren’t really watching. Nicole wondered if she’d ever felt this content before. As much as she loved touching Waverly and being with her, she loved this just as much in a different way. She’d missed just hanging out with Waverly so much; missed hearing her talk and feeling her joyful presence by her side.

“Sometimes I think I like you a little too much for the short time I’ve known you,” Waverly said.

Nicole drew back and watched Waverly’s face, illuminated by the flickering light of the television.

“Why is it bad, if you like me a lot? I like you a lot,” Nicole said softly. She took Waverly’s hand, threading their fingers together. Waverly was quiet, and Nicole wished she could take away that worried expression on her face.

“Because I think I might be falling in love with you,” Waverly said.

Finally, she turned and their eyes locked. Nicole smiled, and put her hand on the side of Waverly’s face.

“Oh, Waverly. Don’t you know I love you too?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well gang, that's the last chapter. This went on longer than I ever planned, to the point where it's a bit sad for me to end it, but it's time. I want to thank everyone who sent kudos and comments, I absolutely loved reading them. And of course, even if you never did either of those things and are just still here, thanks for reading.


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, turns out I wasn't done ;) Thank you once more for your comments. Reading mentions of an epilogue sparked my imagination, and to be honest I hadn't realized how interested people would be in reading more. So I got to thinking about how I wanted to play with Waverly's point of view, and there you have it.

The blue lights of a police car flashed behind her and Waverly checked the rear-view mirror. Maybe one of her tail lights was out, because when she scanned back over the last few minutes she couldn’t think of anything wrong she might have done.

“Shit,” she said, pulling over. She’d been driving up the winding hill that lead to the mansion, and it was even more annoying that she was so close to home.

As she rolled down her window Waverly’s glance flicked back up to the rear view. When she saw the officer getting out of the car, Waverly shook her head and laughed.

Nicole ambled up to the driver’s side with her hands hooked over her belt. Placing one of those hands on the roof of the car, she leaned down toward the window.

“Ma’am, do you know why I stopped you?”

Waverly looked Nicole up and down, raising her eyebrows and shaking her head slightly. She certainly did love seeing Nicole in uniform. Reaching out, she put her hand on Nicole’s arm and ran it downward, lightly tugging on the sleeve.

“Well, there must be some way we can work out a solution,” Waverly said.

“I’m going to pretend I don’t know what you’re suggesting. It’s very serious to try and bribe an officer of the law.”

“How much trouble am I in and how can I _get off_?” Waverly said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Waverly watched while Nicole licked her lips, warmth pooling in her stomach.

“That’s it. I’m writing you up.”

Nicole scrawled something on the piece of paper and tore it off.

Waverly giggled when she read the words, “for being too hot” across the bottom. Nicole finally broke and giggled herself, looking very satisfied with her performance. She slapped the roof of Waverly’s car.

“I was in the neighborhood and couldn’t help myself, but I really should get back to work.”

“Boo. But okay. See you tonight?”

“Can’t wait.”

Waverly stuck her head out of the window so that she could enjoy the sight of Nicole walking back to her cruiser, admiring the way her uniform showed off her ass.

They were so much happier now that Nicole had rejoined the police force. It hadn’t been easy for Waverly to watch Nicole return to work for Reggie. Nicole said Reggie was treating her okay, but it made it difficult when all her colleagues knew she’d done something to piss him off. There was no hiding that she was on desk duty. More significantly, when Nicole finally did get back to regular assignments, it sucked being separated for days at a time.

When Nicole was successful in her application to the LAPD, they’d both been ecstatic. Now Nicole said that aside from meeting Waverly she couldn’t remember why she’d ever even liked private security.

Waverly drove the rest of the way to the mansion and did a few hours of work, glancing at the clock every few minutes. Eventually she started cooking dinner. Because it was Saturday the maid had the day off, which was fine with her because she loved cooking for Nicole. She turned on some music and moved around the kitchen to it, the anticipation of the night ahead cheering her. Maybe they’d watch a movie, or play Scrabble. Nicole didn’t seem to mind one bit that Waverly beat her every time. It was a novelty for Waverly that Nicole was fascinated by her intelligence; she loved hearing Waverly talk about history or the books she was reading.

When the intercom announced Nicole’s arrival at the gate, Waverly buzzed her in and then ran outside to greet her. They beamed at one another as Nicole got out of her car and walked toward her. They kissed hello and Nicole picked her up, making her laugh by spinning her around.

“How was your day?” Waverly asked.

“Great, I pulled over a total cutie,” Nicole replied, her arm warm around Waverly’s shoulders while they walked inside. “And you?”

“Good. I made us a salad and there’s chicken marinating, I thought we could use the grill.”

“Sounds great, thank you,” Nicole said. “Where’s Wynonna?”

“She went to a late lunch with a director, she’s still not home. Probably wasted by now.”

“So, we’re all alone, huh?” Nicole replied, stepping close to her.

“Looks that way,” Waverly said, wrapping her arms around Nicole’s neck. There was that warmth in her stomach again as Nicole drew nearer, and the smell of her perfume curled itself around Waverly.

There was nothing better than kissing her. It had been a shock at first, because Waverly hadn’t known that she was capable of being so turned on by kissing alone. Their physical relationship yielded several shocks like that, each more wonderful than the last. Most of all, she hadn’t known that she had the capacity to put so much trust in another person. They had tried everything, and she always felt safe.

Nicole pushed her up against the counter, kissing her hard. Aside from playing around earlier this afternoon, they hadn’t seen one another for a couple of nights. Waverly pressed into her, loving the feeling of Nicole’s body against hers. Nicole’s full red lips, which had been one of the first things Waverly noticed about her, tasted like heaven. It all made Waverly’s body respond so quickly and she kissed Nicole back fiercely, running her hands over Nicole’s arms.

“I’ve been thinking about you all afternoon,” Waverly said. “You in that uniform, it’s so hot.”

Nicole pulled back for a moment, smiling at her so that her dimple showed. Then they were kissing roughly again, and Nicole’s hands were grasping her hips. There would be time for soft and slow later, but right now she wanted it hard and fast, and Nicole knew it. She somehow always knew. Nicole grabbed Waverly’s breast, kneading it through her shirt, and Waverly groaned. A second later Nicole reached up and under her skirt. She stroked Waverly through her underwear, her breath hot in Waverly’s ear.

Waverly braced herself against the counter, shivering when Nicole’s tongue slid along her neck and against her ear. Waverly said her name, one hand grabbing the counter top behind her as Nicole slipped her underwear to the side enough for her to be able to slide through wetness.

“Told you,” Waverly said, and Nicole’s soft rumbling laughter made her smile.

“Mmm. God you’re sexy.”

They were quiet for a moment then, Waverly reaching her free hand up and around Nicole’s neck. Nicole’s long fingers were inside her and against her clit, gathering heat. Waverly moved her hips in time with Nicole’s thrusts, biting her lip and holding herself steady against the counter.

Nicole’s other hand reached up and under her shirt and bra, rubbing soft circles over her breast. Nicole’s silky voice was low in her ear, talking dirty, urging her higher.

Waverly came quickly, with a shuddering sigh. Nicole slowly withdrew her hand and then gathered Waverly tightly in her arms, holding her close. She kissed the side of Waverly’s face sweetly. They swayed there for a while, not talking.

“Honeys, I’m home!”

“Oh Jesus,” Nicole said at the sound of Wynonna’s voice. “That is close.”

Waverly watched with amusement as Nicole ran to the bathroom to hide, her face red. It hadn’t been _that_ close. Still, Waverly quickly straightened her skirt and smoothed her top down. She heard the thud of Wynonna’s shoes hitting the ground in the hallway.

“How was your meeting?” Waverly asked, taking the chicken out of the fridge. “I was just about to start cooking if you want to join us.”

“I’d love to. It was good, she agrees with me that I’m much better for the supporting role. It’s meatier than the lead, really.”

Waverly, who’d read the script and weighed in on Wynonna’s choices often, nodded. “Smart. Could be an awards contender.”

“You’re never wrong,” Wynonna said. “So, is tonight the big night, have you asked her yet?”

“Shhh!” Waverly replied as Nicole came back into the kitchen. She was quite certain that Nicole had heard, but with Nicole’s impeccable ability to read a room quickly there was no sign of it.

The three of them moved outside and Waverly offered to make them drinks. When she came back with the tray she stood for a moment watching Nicole and Wynonna at the grill together. They were talking and laughing while it was heating up. The two of them had settled a long time ago into roles that had nothing to do with their former relationship as boss and employee. It was one of the reasons Waverly was sure that this would work.

They hung out on the patio, eating dinner and then talking until it was late. When Wynonna left to make them another round of drinks, Nicole pushed hair behind Waverly’s ear and leaned in close to her.

“So, what are you asking me?”

“When we go upstairs, I’ll tell you,” Waverly replied, kissing Nicole’s cheek.

In her ever-patient way, Nicole shrugged. “Alright.”

While Waverly showered she sang to herself, bubbling with nervous energy. They’d been together for almost a year and it felt like the right time to take things to the next level. Everything about their relationship was going so well. There was nobody Waverly would rather spend time with, and the more she came to know Nicole the deeper in love she fell. Waverly couldn’t imagine anything better than going to bed with Nicole every night and waking up with her every morning.

The only thing that concerned her was the logistics. Nicole was a proud person and might not want to move into the mansion, but Waverly couldn’t imagine leaving this place either. Though Waverly wasn’t particularly afraid that Nicole might want to live with her, she did worry about whether they’d be able to reach an agreement they would both be happy with.

Waverly thought about Nicole in her bedroom waiting for her. She badly wanted to finish what they’d started in the kitchen earlier, and Nicole was as edgy as she was. All night Waverly kept catching Nicole staring at her body, jogging her foot up and down and trying to stay still.

“Hey love,” Waverly said, standing in the doorway. Nicole was in her bed, lying there in underwear and a tank top, reading a book. Waverly looked at her beautiful long legs, wondering how she was supposed to have a serious conversation with her now.

“Hey,” Nicole said, putting the book on the night stand and staring back at her. She was lying on her side and she beckoned Waverly to come over, the look on her face leaving no room to wonder what she wanted.

Waverly turned the light off, leaving the lamp on. “I wanted to talk about something, remember?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Nicole said. “What was it you wanted to ask me?”

Waverly moved over to the bed and got in beside her. Turning on her side, she pulled the pillow under her head and Nicole did the same until they were face-to-face.

“Is everything okay? You look serious,” Nicole said, frowning at her gently.

Waverly reached out and put a hand on Nicole’s shoulder. “Everything’s fine, I’ve just been thinking. I feel like we’ve been spending more and more time together, and we’re pretty happy, aren’t we?”

“Definitely happy,” Nicole said, smiling at her. “So?”

“Soooo, I was wondering how you’d feel about moving in together.”

Nicole put her foot out, hooking a leg over Waverly, her smile even wider now. “I’d feel great about it. I think we’re ready if you’re ready.”

“I’m definitely ready,” Waverly replied.

“Then why do you still look worried baby?” Nicole said, running a hand over Waverly’s hair. “Whatever it is, we’ll work it out.”

“I was hoping you’d want to move in here. I know it’s weird, it’s technically Wynonna’s house, but of course I asked, and she’d love you to come too…”

Nicole scrunched her face up. “Waves, of course I want to move in here. It’s a goddamn mansion. What else were we going to do, move into my dump of an apartment?”

“Really?” Waverly said, then lowered her voice when she realized she was squealing. “You’d really want to? You don’t mind if we don’t get our own place for a while?”

“Absolutely not. I know how close you and Wynonna are, and I love spending time here.”

“Oh my god, I’m so glad you want to. I’ve been thinking about how amazing it would be. We could redecorate a few rooms, really make this part of the place ours.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

They held hands, their fingers laced together between them while they gazed into one another’s eyes. Waverly’s other hand traced Nicole’s lips with a finger. She’d looked into those eyes and touched those lips a thousand times now.

Waverly thought about the early days of knowing Nicole often, and remembered how uncertain things had been for those first months. Soon after meeting Nicole, Waverly realized that she was developing an epic crush on her. It was so powerful that it made her feel desperate, unable to bear the thought that Nicole might not feel the same way.

Despite the fear and aching longing that consumed Waverly, she also loved everything about it. Getting closer to Nicole became her top priority and Waverly did whatever she could to spend time with her. If there was ever an excuse to touch Nicole, Waverly would find it.

They’d laughed since about how hard they’d tried to act like things between them were only professional and friendly, and how useless they’d both been at it.

Since those days Waverly’s feelings had deepened a thousand times over, but sometimes she still couldn’t believe she could touch Nicole whenever she wanted.

“When can you come?” Waverly asked softly.

“Hmm, let me think, when does my lease run out?”

“Next month,” Waverly said quickly, and when Nicole burst into laughter she realized Nicole had tricked her. She lightly slapped Nicole’s arm. “You’re an asshole.”

“As soon as you asked me I knew you’d timed it perfectly! I’m paid up, I can move in next time I have a few days off. I’m so happy you asked me,” she said.

At the same time, they edged closer to kiss.

Now it could be slow, and they savored every moment. Waverly loved the feeling of losing herself in Nicole, in her taste and smell. Nicole’s hair was soft under her fingers and her mouth was sweet and warm. They kissed for what felt like hours, languidly moving together on the soft sheets. Waverly ran her fingers over Nicole’s stomach. She was endlessly fascinated by the pale soft skin that she found there. She splayed her fingers over Nicole, lightly digging into her.

Waverly was laying half on top of Nicole and now she straddled her, holding her wrists down with her hands when Nicole tried to touch her. Waverly tightened her legs around Nicole, gliding back and forth on top of her. Soon they were both breathing hard, their kisses growing more passionate.

Waverly pulled her shirt over her head and helped Nicole take off hers, too. Then she was caressing Nicole’s exposed skin, making her shiver. The first time she’d seen Nicole naked it took Waverly’s breath away; she couldn’t believe the way she’d looked. It still floored her no matter how many times they made love or showered together or lay curled up skin to skin. Waverly had always loved kissing and touching Nicole’s breasts and now she leaned down, flattening her tongue and running it over them, then flicking over her nipples.

Waverly caressed and licked Nicole until she was bending under her mouth, her hands in Waverly’s hair. Along the way her thigh had come between Nicole’s legs and she rubbed herself against Nicole, creating a delicious friction between them.

“Baby it’s not that I don’t enjoy this but…” Nicole said breathlessly.

“But what?” Waverly said.

“Between this and what happened this afternoon I’m kinda…” she said.

Waverly pressed herself against Nicole’s thigh and Nicole groaned, grabbing Waverly’s hips. Waverly reached her hand between them and slowly slid her fingers over Nicole’s underwear, gently stroking her through the fabric.

“Okay now you’re just teasing,” Nicole said. She pulled Waverly down and kissed her fiercely, then whispered into her ear. “Please, fuck me.”

Waverly tugged down Nicole’s underwear and sank into her, Nicole rewarding her with a loud moan. When they’d first started having sex, it had amazed Waverly to discover the sense of power that flowed through her when Nicole was beneath her. It thrilled her to watch Nicole come apart, looking up at her with those brown eyes.

Waverly moved slowly, still teasing a little, but now Nicole didn’t seem to mind. She loved the way Nicole wrapped her legs around her, and clawed at her back. When Nicole wanted more she gave the slightest nod to Waverly who began moving faster. The two of them locked eyes, then Nicole lifted her head enough to kiss Waverly roughly. Waverly curled her fingers and Nicole gasped. It went on and on, building until Nicole shuddered underneath her hands.

“I love you,” Waverly said, kissing Nicole as she came back to earth.

“I love you too.”

They lay still, Waverly covering Nicole with her body. Nicole told her a long time ago that she loved the weight of Waverly on top of her. Though her head was turned against Nicole’s chest and Waverly couldn’t see her face, when she traced Nicole’s lips with her fingers she could feel that she was smiling.

“Happy?”

“Only one way I could be happier,” Nicole said, and then she was flipping Waverly onto her back, so that a rush of shocked laughter bubbled up inside her.

Nicole moved her way down Waverly’s body. She propped herself up on her elbows, looking down as Nicole licked and kissed her. It turned her on to watch, their eyes meeting now and then, but after a while Waverly lost focus and her head fell back. Nicole’s hands gripped her thighs and held her while she came, Nicole skilled mouth driving her crazy.

Nicole moved up and they settled against the pillows, Waverly laying against Nicole’s chest to hear her heart beat. Nicole’s hand softly brushed her hair.

A horrific thought occurred to Waverly. “Nicole, what if we stop having so much sex when we live together? I don’t want us to get lesbian bed death.”

Nicole burst into laughter. “What are you talking about?”

“I read about it on the internet.”

“Well, what do you think? Do you think it would happen to us?”

“I think it sounds like a myth invented by people who can’t fathom the idea of two women who really like fucking one another.”

“Correct. Oh, how I love it when you talk dirty,” Nicole said.

They kissed, their tongues sliding against one another’s.

“If things did cool off I’m sure we could find ways to keep entertained,” Waverly said.

“Well I like the sound of that,” Nicole agreed, lightly tracing her fingers over Waverly’s shoulder.

“Wait. What if we fight over stupid stuff? I’ve never lived with a partner before, maybe I’m annoying to live with?”

“Baby, you’re not really worried about that are you? You’re not annoying. We’ve fought before, and we’re fine.”

Waverly closed her eyes, soothed by Nicole’s soft voice and gentle touch. “Sorry, I’m really happy you said yes, I’m just being silly.”

“You can trust this Waverly.”

“I know. That’s why I asked.”

Waverly smiled to herself. She soaked up this moment, wanting to file it away with so many others that she’d shared with Nicole. It was like the first time they saw one another at the coffee shop, or the time Nicole stopped her heart by telling her she thought she was beautiful. There was that night they’d watched _All About Eve_ together, and Nicole’s hands in her hair and on her body made her stomach flip. The first time they kissed, made love, admitted how they felt.

It was all important, weaving together into this special thing that she felt indescribably lucky to have. As Waverly sank into sleep she felt Nicole’s breath on her cheek, a hand on her thigh. All her nights would be like this now, and forever.


End file.
